VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Seattle 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 Seattle for

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Seattle 30, Xi'an 4: Seattle leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Xi'an 42: Seattle leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Xi'an 62: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Xi'an 48: Seattle leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Xi'an 50: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Xi'an 40: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle and Xi'an are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches 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.

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SeattleXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleXi'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
Elevation40 m405 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleXi'an
City population737,01512,952,907
People per km²1,9961,283
Museums within 10 km279
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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