VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Chiang Mai?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • wellness
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Chiang Mai’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, Chiang Mai 6: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Chiang Mai 45: Chiang Mai leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Chiang Mai 73: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Chiang Mai 48: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Chiang Mai 55: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Chiang Mai 38: Arequipa leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Chiang Mai 30: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on wellness and families 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

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaChiang Mai

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). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaChiang Mai
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaThai
CurrencySol (PEN)Baht (THB)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation2,335 m310 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days-

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaChiang Mai
City population1,008,2901,198,000
People per km²1,5512,958
Museums within 10 km36
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 Chiang Mai 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.