VacationSelector
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

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

Thessaloniki 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 Thessaloniki for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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. Thessaloniki 55, Xi'an 4: Thessaloniki leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Thessaloniki 77, Xi'an 70: Thessaloniki leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Thessaloniki 73, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Thessaloniki 76, Xi'an 42: Thessaloniki leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Thessaloniki 66, Xi'an 62: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Thessaloniki 74, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Thessaloniki 50, Xi'an 48: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Thessaloniki 60, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Thessaloniki and Xi'an are level on 50.
Affordability. Thessaloniki 66, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Thessaloniki 52, Xi'an 40: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Thessaloniki 33, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Thessaloniki and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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.

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ThessalonikiXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureThessalonikiXi'an
Official languageGreekPutonghua
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
Elevation6 m405 m
Main airportThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureThessalonikiXi'an
City population309,61712,952,907
People per km²16,0421,283
Museums within 10 km329
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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