VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Beijing?

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 Arequipa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Beijing for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Beijing’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. Arequipa 8, Beijing 6: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Beijing 81: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Beijing 93: Beijing leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Beijing 58: Beijing leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Beijing 60: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Beijing 85: Beijing leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Beijing 64: Beijing leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Beijing 69: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Beijing 72: Beijing leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Beijing 68: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Beijing 55: Beijing leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Beijing.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Arequipa in July

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

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaBeijing

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. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaBeijing
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPutonghua
CurrencySol (PEN)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation2,335 m43 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaBeijing
City population1,008,29021,893,095
People per km²1,5511,334
Museums within 10 km383
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Beijing 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. 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.