VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Mexico City?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Mexico City 50: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Mexico City 50: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Mexico City 75: Arequipa leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Mexico City 40: Mexico City leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Mexico City.

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.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaMexico City

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). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaMexico City
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencySol (PEN)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m2,240 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaMexico City
City population1,008,2909,209,944
People per km²1,5516,202
Museums within 10 km3108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16

Where else could you go?

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