VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Hurghada?

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
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’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, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Hurghada 34: Arequipa leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Hurghada 14: Arequipa leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Hurghada 40: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Hurghada 72: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Arequipa and Hurghada are level on 30.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Hurghada 62: Hurghada leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Hurghada 22: Arequipa leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Hurghada 24: Arequipa leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Hurghada 80: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Hurghada 10: Arequipa leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Hurghada 44: Hurghada leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Hurghada.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

010203040JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaHurghada

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). Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaHurghada
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaArabic
CurrencySol (PEN)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation2,335 m11 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaHurghada
City population1,008,290214,247
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km31
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 Hurghada 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.