VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Cairo?

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
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Cairo for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Cairo’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, Cairo 10: Cairo leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Cairo 60: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Cairo 96: Cairo leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Cairo 48: Cairo leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Cairo 30: Arequipa leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Cairo 66: Cairo leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Cairo 32: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Cairo 35: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Cairo 58: Cairo leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Cairo 95: Cairo leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Cairo 50: Cairo leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Cairo 15: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Cairo.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Cairo
Best match
50match

Wins on day trips 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.

Arequipa in July

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

010203040JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaCairo

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). Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaCairo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaArabic
CurrencySol (PEN)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation2,335 m23 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaCairo
City population1,008,2909,801,536
People per km²1,55118,564
Museums within 10 km348
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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