VacationSelector
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Washington DC 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 Washington DC for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • 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. Washington DC 12, Xi'an 4: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Washington DC 67, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Washington DC 84, Xi'an 81: Washington DC leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Washington DC 57, Xi'an 42: Washington DC leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Washington DC 64, Xi'an 62: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Washington DC 73, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Washington DC 73, Xi'an 48: Washington DC leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Washington DC 72, Xi'an 66: Washington DC leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Washington DC 52, Xi'an 50: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Washington DC 28, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Washington DC 67, Xi'an 40: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Washington DC 26, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Washington DC and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Washington DC
56match

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

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Washington DCXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureWashington DCXi'an
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation72 m405 m
Main airportRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureWashington DCXi'an
City population689,54512,952,907
People per km²3,8961,283
Museums within 10 km989
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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