VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • 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. Madrid 5, Xi'an 4: Madrid leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Xi'an 70: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Xi'an 81: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Xi'an 42: Madrid leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Xi'an 80: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Xi'an 48: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Xi'an 66: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Xi'an 50: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Xi'an 40: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 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
MadridXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridXi'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
Elevation663 m405 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridXi'an
City population3,506,73012,952,907
People per km²5,8011,283
Museums within 10 km889
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

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