VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

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

Santiago 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 Santiago for

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • 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. Santiago 12, Xi'an 4: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Xi'an 42: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Xi'an 62: Santiago leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Xi'an 48: Santiago leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Xi'an 66: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Xi'an 50: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Xi'an 40: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago 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

Santiago
55match

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

Xi'an
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.

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 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
SantiagoXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoXi'an
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation575 m405 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoXi'an
City population6,257,51612,952,907
People per km²7,4681,283
Museums within 10 km549
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 Santiago 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). 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.