VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

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

Paris 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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • 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. Paris 9, Xi'an 4: Paris leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, Xi'an 70: Paris leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, Xi'an 81: Paris leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, Xi'an 42: Paris leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, Xi'an 80: Paris leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, Xi'an 48: Paris leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, Xi'an 66: Paris leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, Xi'an 50: Paris leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, Xi'an 40: Paris leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris and Xi'an are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paris and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

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

Xi'an
55match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 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
ParisXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisXi'an
Official languageFrenchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation27 m405 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisXi'an
City population2,103,77812,952,907
People per km²19,9601,283
Museums within 10 km2519
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 Paris 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.