VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Tempio Voltiano on the lakeshore, Como
ComoTempio Voltiano on the lakeshore

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Como by Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Como?

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
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Como for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Como’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, Como 36: Como leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Como 45: Arequipa leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Como 52: Arequipa leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Como 22: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Como 82: Como leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Como 87: Como leads by 57 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Como 47: Como leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Como 66: Como leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Como 42: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Como 30: Arequipa leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Como 34: Como leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Como 44: Como leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Como.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Como
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

Como in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
158 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaComo

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). Como: 1991-2020 normals, Lugano (23 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaComo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaItalian
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m201 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)34 km from centre208 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaComo
City population1,008,29083,184
People per km²1,5512,242
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km18

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Como 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.