VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Charleston?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Charleston for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa and Charleston are level on 64.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Charleston 44: Charleston leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Charleston 55: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Charleston 62: Charleston leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Charleston 60: Charleston leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Charleston 46: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Charleston 27: Arequipa leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Charleston 42: Charleston leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Charleston 40: Charleston leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Charleston.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

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

Charleston
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaCharleston

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). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaCharleston
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m6 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaCharleston
City population1,008,290150,227
People per km²1,551532
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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