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.
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$$$Theater & shows
- Lao Sun Jia$Restaurants
🇨🇳 Guilin
The karst-mountain scenery on the back of the ¥20 note — a slower, greener corner of China built around the Li River and the backpacker village of Yangshuo.
- Yangshuo West Street$Nightlife
- Xie Dajie Beer Fish$$Restaurants
- Impression Sanjie Liu$$$Theater & shows
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