VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Chengdu?

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
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Chengdu’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, Chengdu 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Chengdu 60: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Chengdu 68: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Chengdu 80: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Chengdu 50: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Chengdu.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on day trips and nightlife 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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaChengdu

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). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaChengdu
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 m500 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaChengdu
City population1,008,29020,937,757
People per km²1,5511,456
Museums within 10 km310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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