VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Dubai?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Dubai for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Dubai’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, Dubai 80: Dubai leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Dubai 76: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Dubai 40: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Dubai 62: Dubai leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Dubai 25: Arequipa leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Dubai 45: Dubai leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 47 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Dubai 42: Arequipa leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Dubai 32: Arequipa leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Dubai 40: Dubai leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Dubai 46: Dubai leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Dubai.

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.

Dubai
Best match
54match

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

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

010203040JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaDubai

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). Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaDubai
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaArabic
CurrencySol (PEN)UAE Dirham (AED)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+4
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m0 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days-

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaDubai
City population1,008,2903,944,751
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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