VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Reykjavik?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Reykjavik leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Reykjavik 42: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Reykjavik 25: Arequipa leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Reykjavik 35: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Reykjavik 25: Arequipa leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Reykjavik 6: Arequipa leads by 76 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness 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
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaReykjavik

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). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaReykjavik
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaIcelandic
CurrencySol (PEN)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m8 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaReykjavik
City population1,008,290138,772
People per km²1,551569
Museums within 10 km323
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Reykjavik 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.