VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or San Diego?

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
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Diego for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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, San Diego 72: San Diego leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, San Diego 62: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, San Diego 50: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, San Diego 48: San Diego leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, San Diego 77: San Diego leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, San Diego 60: San Diego leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 61 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, San Diego 38: Arequipa leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa and San Diego are level on 44.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, San Diego 26: Arequipa leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, San Diego 56: San Diego leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, San Diego 45: San Diego leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and San Diego.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches 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 seasea
11 hdaylight a day

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSan Diego

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). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSan Diego
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m129 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSan Diego
City population1,008,2901,386,932
People per km²1,5511,438
Museums within 10 km326
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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