VacationSelector
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Sofia 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 Sofia for

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • food and drink
  • 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. Sofia 5, Xi'an 4: Sofia leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Sofia 45, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Sofia 60, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Sofia 50, Xi'an 42: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sofia 80, Xi'an 62: Sofia leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Sofia 60, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Sofia 40, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Sofia 65, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Sofia 38, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Sofia 78, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sofia 50, Xi'an 40: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sofia 45, Xi'an 40: Sofia leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sofia and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Sofia
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine 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
SofiaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSofiaXi'an
Official languageBulgarianPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation560 m405 m
Main airportSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSofiaXi'an
City population1,213,13412,952,907
People per km²2,4661,283
Museums within 10 km429
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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