VacationSelector
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Valencia 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 Valencia for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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. Valencia 78, Xi'an 4: Valencia leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Valencia 74, Xi'an 70: Valencia leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Valencia 68, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Valencia 66, Xi'an 42: Valencia leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Valencia 60, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Valencia 70, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Valencia 75, Xi'an 48: Valencia leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Valencia 76, Xi'an 66: Valencia leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Valencia 57, Xi'an 50: Valencia leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Valencia 57, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Valencia 55, Xi'an 40: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Valencia 42, Xi'an 40: Valencia leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Valencia and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Valencia
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °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
ValenciaXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureValenciaXi'an
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation15 m405 m
Main airportValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureValenciaXi'an
City population840,79212,952,907
People per km²6,2421,283
Museums within 10 km459
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Valencia 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.