VacationSelector
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Varanasi 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 Varanasi for

  • live music and the arts
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • 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. Varanasi and Xi'an are level on 4.
Food & drink. Varanasi 55, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Varanasi 80, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Varanasi 10, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Varanasi 18, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Varanasi 42, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Varanasi 5, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Varanasi 28, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Varanasi 55, Xi'an 50: Varanasi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Varanasi 92, Xi'an 80: Varanasi leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi 58, Xi'an 40: Varanasi leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Varanasi 30, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Varanasi and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on live music and the arts and prices with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
VaranasiXi'an

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVaranasiXi'an
Official languageHindi, EnglishPutonghua
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+8
Emergency number108 or 112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation76 m405 m
Main airportLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureVaranasiXi'an
City population1,198,49112,952,907
People per km²14,5981,283
Museums within 10 km29
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 Varanasi or Xi'an somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.