VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Oaxaca?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Oaxaca 40: Oaxaca leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Oaxaca 62: Arequipa leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Oaxaca 65: Oaxaca leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Oaxaca 40: Oaxaca leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Oaxaca 55: Oaxaca leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Oaxaca 77: Arequipa leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Oaxaca 38: Oaxaca leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Oaxaca.

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.

Oaxaca
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and food and drink 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaOaxaca

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). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaOaxaca
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 m1,555 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaOaxaca
City population1,008,290258,913
People per km²1,5513,028
Museums within 10 km310
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 Oaxaca 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.