VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Nairobi?

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
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Nairobi 48: Arequipa leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Nairobi 35: Arequipa leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Nairobi 28: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Nairobi 20: Arequipa leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Nairobi 45: Nairobi leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Nairobi 60: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Nairobi 35: Nairobi leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Nairobi 25: Arequipa leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Arequipa
Best match
46match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife 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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaNairobi

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). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaNairobi
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Swahili
CurrencySol (PEN)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number111 or 911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation2,335 m1,661 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaNairobi
City population1,008,2905,545,000
People per km²1,5517,967
Museums within 10 km34
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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