VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Amalfi or Varanasi?

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 Amalfi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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. Amalfi 64, Varanasi 4: Amalfi leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, Varanasi 10: Amalfi leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, Varanasi 18: Amalfi leads by 64 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, Varanasi 42: Amalfi leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, Varanasi 5: Amalfi leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, Varanasi 28: Amalfi leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 74 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, Varanasi 30: Amalfi leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amalfi and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Amalfi
Best match
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

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.

Amalfi in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
28 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Amalfi's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Amalfi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amalfi: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (64.7 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiVaranasi
Official languageItalianHindi, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation6 m76 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiVaranasi
City population4,7291,198,491
People per km²83014,598
Museums within 10 km82
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
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 Amalfi or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.