VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Portland 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 Portland for

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

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. Portland 20, Xi'an 4: Portland leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Xi'an 42: Portland leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Xi'an 62: Portland leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Xi'an 48: Portland leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Xi'an 50: Portland leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Portland 38, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Xi'an 40: Portland leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Xi'an 40: Portland leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Portland and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Portland
52match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PortlandXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandXi'an
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation152 m405 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandXi'an
City population652,50312,952,907
People per km²1,7361,283
Museums within 10 km179
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 Portland 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). 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.