VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Bilbao?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Bilbao’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, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Bilbao 62: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Bilbao 54: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Bilbao 55: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Bilbao 44: Arequipa leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Bilbao 53: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Bilbao 33: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Bilbao in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
54 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaBilbao

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). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaBilbao
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m19 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaBilbao
City population1,008,290351,124
People per km²1,5518,440
Museums within 10 km317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Bilbao 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.