VacationSelector
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic 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: Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Tromso 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 Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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. Tromso 8, Xi'an 4: Tromso leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Tromso 36, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Tromso 27, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Tromso 38, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tromso 92, Xi'an 62: Tromso leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Tromso 14, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Tromso 45, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Tromso 60, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Tromso 15, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Tromso 11, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 69 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tromso 32, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tromso 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tromso and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Tromso
35match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
TromsoXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTromsoXi'an
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiPutonghua
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation20 m405 m
Main airportTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureTromsoXi'an
City population79,94312,952,907
People per km²321,283
Museums within 10 km89
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 Tromso 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). 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.