VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala 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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • getting around

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

Choose Arequipa for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Arequipa 8: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Arequipa 66: Arequipa leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Arequipa 64: Antigua Guatemala leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Arequipa 36: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Arequipa 74: Antigua Guatemala leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Arequipa 30: Antigua Guatemala leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Arequipa 35: Antigua Guatemala leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Arequipa 54: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Arequipa 44: Antigua Guatemala leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Arequipa 82: Arequipa leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Arequipa 27: Arequipa leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Arequipa 34: Antigua Guatemala leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Arequipa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Arequipa
46match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Arequipa in July

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaArequipa

Where the figures come from

Antigua Guatemala 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.

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. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaArequipa
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Sol (PEN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123111 or 911
Elevation1,582 m2,335 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaArequipa
City population59,0911,008,290
People per km²-1,551
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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.