VacationSelector
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Granada by Jebulon, CC0; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Granada 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 Granada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • 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. Granada 38, Xi'an 4: Granada leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Granada 62, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Granada 80, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Granada 58, Xi'an 42: Granada leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Granada 80, Xi'an 62: Granada leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Granada 76, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Granada 52, Xi'an 48: Granada leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Granada 68, Xi'an 66: Granada leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Granada 40, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Granada 63, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Granada 58, Xi'an 40: Granada leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Granada 48, Xi'an 40: Granada leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Granada and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Granada
Best match
60match

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

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
14 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
GranadaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGranadaXi'an
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)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
Elevation693 m405 m
Main airportF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureGranadaXi'an
City population233,97512,952,907
People per km²2,6591,283
Museums within 10 km209
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 Granada 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). 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.