VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • 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. Oslo 36, Xi'an 4: Oslo leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Xi'an 42: Oslo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Xi'an 62: Oslo leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Xi'an 48: Oslo leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Xi'an 66: Oslo leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo and Xi'an are level on 50.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Xi'an 40: Oslo leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Xi'an 40: Oslo leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Oslo
56match

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

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 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
OsloXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloXi'an
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiPutonghua
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation23 m405 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloXi'an
City population717,71012,952,907
People per km²-1,283
Museums within 10 km609
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.