VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Lima 42, Xi'an 4: Lima leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Xi'an 70: Lima leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Xi'an 42: Lima leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Xi'an 50: Lima leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Xi'an 40: Lima leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
LimaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaXi'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
Elevation154 m405 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaXi'an
City population9,943,80012,952,907
People per km²3,7211,283
Museums within 10 km479
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima 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). 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.