VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Johannesburg?

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

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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, Johannesburg 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Johannesburg 58: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Johannesburg 56: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Johannesburg 55: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Johannesburg 18: Arequipa leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Johannesburg 72: Arequipa leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Johannesburg 28: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Arequipa
46match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on live music and the arts 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
11 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaJohannesburg

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). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaJohannesburg
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencySol (PEN)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m1,753 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaJohannesburg
City population1,008,2904,803,262
People per km²1,5512,922
Museums within 10 km314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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