Best time to visit Xi’an

Xi’an is a city of two halves. March scores 87 and July scores 36 — a 51-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. Only 3 months come close to the top, which makes the timing narrow.

July is the warmest month at 34.7 °C and January the coolest at 6.8 °C — a 27.9 °C spread across the year. Around 106 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in July and the months either side. At the other end, 74 nights a year fall below freezing: the winter here is a real one.

There is a real wet season here. July to September carry the rain — up to 15 wet days in a month — while January, February, March, November and December drop as low as 2. That 13-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Xi’an, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 9.9 hours in winter to 14.4 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are March, April, October. The one to think twice about is July. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Xi’an month by month