VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Budapest or Xi'an?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Budapest for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Budapest’s own page.

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Budapest 25, Xi'an 4: Budapest leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Xi'an 42: Budapest leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Xi'an 48: Budapest leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Xi'an 66: Budapest leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Xi'an 50: Budapest leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Xi'an 40: Budapest leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Xi'an 40: Budapest leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Budapest and Xi'an.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Budapest
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestXi'an
Official languageHungarianPutonghua
CurrencyForint (HUF)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation117 m405 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestXi'an
City population1,675,77712,952,907
People per km²3,1911,283
Museums within 10 km819
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Budapest or Xi'an somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.