VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala 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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Varanasi for

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

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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Varanasi 4: Antigua Guatemala leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Varanasi 10: Antigua Guatemala leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Varanasi 18: Antigua Guatemala leads by 60 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Varanasi 42: Antigua Guatemala leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Varanasi 5: Antigua Guatemala leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Varanasi 28: Antigua Guatemala leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Varanasi 30: Antigua Guatemala leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
Best match
47match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaVaranasi

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.

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. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaVaranasi
Official languageSpanishHindi, English
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123108 or 112
Elevation1,582 m76 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaVaranasi
City population59,0911,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km22
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 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. 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.