VacationSelector
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Plovdiv 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 Plovdiv for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • 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. Plovdiv 7, Xi'an 4: Plovdiv leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Plovdiv 50, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Plovdiv 66, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Plovdiv and Xi'an are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Plovdiv 68, Xi'an 62: Plovdiv leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Plovdiv 70, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Plovdiv 40, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Plovdiv 65, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Plovdiv 33, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Plovdiv 78, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Plovdiv 42, Xi'an 40: Plovdiv leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Plovdiv 44, Xi'an 40: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Plovdiv and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Plovdiv
50match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on food and drink and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 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
PlovdivXi'an

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePlovdivXi'an
Official languageBulgarianPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation172 m405 m
Main airportPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasurePlovdivXi'an
City population333,99412,952,907
People per km²3,2741,283
Museums within 10 km189
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

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