VacationSelector
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Pisa 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 Pisa for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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. Pisa 58, Xi'an 4: Pisa leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Pisa 55, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Pisa 68, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Pisa 40, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Pisa and Xi'an are level on 62.
Day trips. Pisa 92, Xi'an 80: Pisa leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Pisa 52, Xi'an 48: Pisa leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Pisa 76, Xi'an 66: Pisa leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Pisa 38, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Pisa 55, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Pisa 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Pisa 45, Xi'an 40: Pisa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Pisa and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Pisa
57match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PisaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePisaXi'an
Official languageItalianPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation4 m405 m
Main airportPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasurePisaXi'an
City population88,73712,952,907
People per km²4791,283
Museums within 10 km279
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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