VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Cebu?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Cebu for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cebu’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, Cebu 60: Cebu leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Cebu 58: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Cebu 40: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Cebu 46: Cebu leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Cebu 60: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Cebu 44: Cebu leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Cebu 45: Cebu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Cebu 26: Arequipa leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa and Cebu are level on 44.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Cebu 80: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Cebu 25: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Cebu 50: Cebu leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Cebu.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Arequipa
46match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Cebu
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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 seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaCebu

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). Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaCebu
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencySol (PEN)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m135 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaCebu
City population1,008,290965,332
People per km²1,5513,065
Museums within 10 km35
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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