VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Rotterdam 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 Rotterdam for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Rotterdam 27, Xi'an 4: Rotterdam leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Xi'an 42: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Xi'an 80: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Xi'an 48: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Xi'an 66: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Xi'an 50: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Xi'an 40: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Xi'an 40: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamXi'an

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamXi'an
Official languageDutchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation10 m405 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamXi'an
City population664,31112,952,907
People per km²2,0801,283
Museums within 10 km409
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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