VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
White sand and parasols on the beach, Destin
DestinWhite sand and parasols on the beach

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Destin by #KenFL74, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Destin?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Destin for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Destin’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, Destin 86: Destin leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Destin 42: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Destin 14: Arequipa leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa and Destin are level on 36.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Destin 56: Arequipa leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Destin 44: Destin leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Destin 72: Destin leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Destin 20: Arequipa leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Destin 40: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Destin 34: Arequipa leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Destin 20: Arequipa leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Destin 33: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Destin.

Your match

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

Arequipa
Best match
46match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Destin
41match

Wins on beaches 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

Destin in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaDestin

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.

Destin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Destin: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Destin (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaDestin
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 m8 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsDestin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS)11 km from centre45 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaDestin
City population1,008,29013,931
People per km²1,551636
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Destin 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.