VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Penang?

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
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Penang for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’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, Penang 44: Penang leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Penang 86: Penang leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Penang 70: Penang leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Penang 40: Penang leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Penang 55: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Penang 42: Penang leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Penang 52: Penang leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Penang 40: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Penang 42: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Penang 78: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Penang 30: Penang leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Penang 42: Penang leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Penang.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches 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 seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaPenang

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). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaPenang
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaMalay
CurrencySol (PEN)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911999
Elevation2,335 m4 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days-

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaPenang
City population1,008,290794,313
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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