Xi'an vs Guilin

The short answer

Guilin is the cheaper trip, by roughly 20% a day — $28–55 against $35–65 mid-range per person. Both are at their best in Mar–May, Sep–Nov, so one trip can take in both.

Side by side

Mid-range, per person, in US dollars. Both guides were costed the same way — see how we work these out.

	🇨🇳 Xi'an	🇨🇳 Guilin
Daily budgetmid-range, per person	$35–65	$28–55cheaper
Cheap meallocal staple	$1.50–4	$1.50–4
Mid-range hotelper night	$40–75	$30–65cheaper
Transit ridesingle trip	$0.30–0.60	$0.25–0.50cheaper
Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context	≈ $950	≈ $780

When to go

Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.

Xi'an

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Mar–May, Sep–Nov

Guilin

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Good year-round

What you'd actually do

A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.

🇨🇳 Xi'an

Ancient capital of a dozen dynasties and the eastern anchor of the Silk Road, best known today as home to the buried Terracotta Army.

Defu Lane$$Nightlife
De Fa Chang$$Restaurants
Tang Dynasty Show$$$Theater & shows
Lao Sun Jia$Restaurants

Full Xi'an guide →

🇨🇳 Guilin

The karst-mountain scenery on the back of the ¥20 note — a slower, greener corner of China built around the Li River and the backpacker village of Yangshuo.

Yangshuo West Street$Nightlife
Xie Dajie Beer Fish$$Restaurants
Impression Sanjie Liu$$$Theater & shows

Full Guilin guide →

Practicalities

	Xi'an	Guilin
Language	Mandarin Chinese, with a distinct local accent. English is limited even at major sights — a translation app is essential.	Mandarin Chinese, with a distinct Guilin dialect and Zhuang minority communities in surrounding areas. English is limited outside Yangshuo's tourist strip, which sees far more Western backpackers than most Chinese cities.

The same in both:

Currency: Renminbi / yuan (¥ or RMB). US$1 ≈ ¥7.2
Time zone: CST (UTC+8), one zone nationwide, no daylight saving
Power: Type A/C/I plugs, 220V
Tap water: Don't drink it — bottled or boiled water everywhere
Emergency: 110 police · 120 ambulance · 119 fire