VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Arequipa?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Arequipa for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Arequipa’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. Alicante 82, Arequipa 8: Alicante leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Arequipa 66: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Arequipa 64: Arequipa leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Arequipa 36: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Arequipa 74: Arequipa leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Arequipa 30: Alicante leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Arequipa 35: Alicante leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Arequipa 54: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante and Arequipa are level on 44.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Arequipa 82: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Arequipa 27: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Arequipa 34: Alicante leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Arequipa.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Arequipa in July

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteArequipa

Where the figures come from

Arequipa's station stands 203 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteArequipa
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation3 m2,335 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteArequipa
City population366,2211,008,290
People per km²1,8191,551
Museums within 10 km83
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Arequipa 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.