VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Puerto Iguazu?

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

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Puerto Iguazu 28: Arequipa leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Puerto Iguazu 9: Arequipa leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Puerto Iguazu 14: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Puerto Iguazu 33: Puerto Iguazu leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Puerto Iguazu 55: Puerto Iguazu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa and Puerto Iguazu are level on 54.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Puerto Iguazu 17: Arequipa leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Puerto Iguazu 48: Arequipa leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Puerto Iguazu 7: Arequipa leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa and Puerto Iguazu are level on 34.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Arequipa
Best match
46match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaPuerto Iguazu

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). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaPuerto Iguazu
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number111 or 911117 or 911
Elevation2,335 m162 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaPuerto Iguazu
City population1,008,29054,903
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km30
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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