VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Istanbul?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Istanbul’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, Istanbul 45: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Istanbul 52: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Istanbul 60: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaIstanbul

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). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaIstanbul
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaTurkish
CurrencySol (PEN)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m100 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaIstanbul
City population1,008,29015,655,924
People per km²1,5512,930
Museums within 10 km373
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Istanbul 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.