VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Seoul 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 Seoul for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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. Seoul 18, Xi'an 4: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Xi'an 70: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Xi'an 42: Seoul leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Xi'an 62: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Xi'an 48: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Xi'an 66: Seoul leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Xi'an 50: Seoul leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Xi'an 40: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Xi'an 40: Seoul leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and shopping 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.

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulXi'an
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguagePutonghua
CurrencyWon (KRW)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation38 m405 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulXi'an
City population9,668,46512,952,907
People per km²15,9731,283
Museums within 10 km819
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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