VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Chicago?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Chicago 48: Arequipa leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Chicago 42: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Chicago 33: Arequipa leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 55 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Chicago 33: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Chicago.

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.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts 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 seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaChicago

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). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaChicago
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m179 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaChicago
City population1,008,2902,746,388
People per km²1,5514,529
Museums within 10 km344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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