VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’s own page.

Choose Xi'an for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • 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. Salt Lake City 12, Xi'an 4: Salt Lake City leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Xi'an 62: Salt Lake City leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City 72, Xi'an 48: Salt Lake City leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City 55, Xi'an 40: Salt Lake City leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salt Lake City and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Salt Lake City
44match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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.

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Salt Lake CityXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CityXi'an
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation1,288 m405 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CityXi'an
City population199,72312,952,907
People per km²6901,283
Museums within 10 km129
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 Salt Lake City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.