VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cusco 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 Cusco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • families
  • getting around
  • 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. Cusco 3, Xi'an 4: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco and Xi'an are level on 81.
Nightlife. Cusco and Xi'an are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Xi'an 62: Cusco leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Xi'an 50: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Cusco
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and shopping with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on families and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoXi'an

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoXi'an
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPutonghua
CurrencySol (PEN)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation3,399 m405 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoXi'an
City population428,45012,952,907
People per km²-1,283
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.