VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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. Faro 74, Xi'an 4: Faro leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro and Xi'an are level on 62.
Day trips. Faro 64, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Xi'an 48: Faro leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroXi'an
Official languagePortuguesePutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation10 m405 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroXi'an
City population64,56012,952,907
People per km²3191,283
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.