VacationSelector
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Victoria Falls 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 Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • prices

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. Victoria Falls 7, Xi'an 4: Victoria Falls leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Victoria Falls 24, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Victoria Falls 12, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 69 points.
Nightlife. Victoria Falls 8, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Victoria Falls 94, Xi'an 62: Victoria Falls leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Victoria Falls 22, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 58 points.
Good for families. Victoria Falls 38, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Victoria Falls 45, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Victoria Falls 18, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Victoria Falls 32, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Victoria Falls 10, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Victoria Falls 34, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Victoria Falls and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Victoria Falls
29match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Victoria FallsXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVictoria FallsXi'an
Official languageEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, BarwePutonghua
CurrencyZimbabwe Gold (ZWG)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsG220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+8
Emergency number999Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation961 m405 m
Main airportVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureVictoria FallsXi'an
City population33,06012,952,907
People per km²-1,283
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Victoria Falls 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). 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). 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. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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.