VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Rome?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rome for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Rome 82: Rome leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Rome 99: Rome leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Rome 58: Rome leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Rome 58: Arequipa leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Rome 92: Rome leads by 62 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Rome 50: Rome leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Rome 60: Rome leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Rome 72: Rome leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Rome 38: Arequipa leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Rome 68: Rome leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Rome 40: Rome leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaRome

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.

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaRome
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaItalian
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m21 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaRome
City population1,008,2902,748,109
People per km²1,5512,135
Museums within 10 km3178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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