VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Salt Lake City?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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, Salt Lake City 12: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Salt Lake City 40: Arequipa leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Salt Lake City 42: Arequipa leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Salt Lake City 30: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Salt Lake City 34: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Salt Lake City 42: Arequipa leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Salt Lake City 36: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Salt Lake City 40: Arequipa leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Salt Lake City 55: Salt Lake City leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Salt Lake City 38: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Salt Lake City.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on families and live music and the arts 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
11 hdaylight a day

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSalt Lake City

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). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSalt Lake City
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m1,288 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSalt Lake City
City population1,008,290199,723
People per km²1,551690
Museums within 10 km312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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