VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Heidelberg?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Heidelberg for

  • day trips
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Heidelberg’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, Heidelberg 7: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Heidelberg 40: Arequipa leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Heidelberg 58: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Heidelberg 38: Heidelberg leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Heidelberg 60: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Heidelberg 78: Heidelberg leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Heidelberg 62: Heidelberg leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Heidelberg 72: Heidelberg leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Heidelberg 40: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Heidelberg 42: Arequipa leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Heidelberg 48: Heidelberg leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Heidelberg 44: Heidelberg leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Heidelberg
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips 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 recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Heidelberg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaHeidelberg

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). Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaHeidelberg
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaGerman
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 m114 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaHeidelberg
City population1,008,290156,092
People per km²1,5511,433
Museums within 10 km317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14

Where else could you go?

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