VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Granada by Jebulon, CC0.

Arequipa or Granada?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Granada for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Granada’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, Granada 38: Granada leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Granada 62: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Granada 80: Granada leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Granada 58: Granada leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Granada 80: Granada leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Granada 76: Granada leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Granada 52: Granada leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Granada 68: Granada leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Granada 40: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Granada 63: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Granada 58: Granada leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Granada 48: Granada leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Granada.

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.

Granada
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaGranada

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). Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaGranada
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m693 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaGranada
City population1,008,290233,975
People per km²1,5512,659
Museums within 10 km320
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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