VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Arequipa or San Francisco?

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

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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 Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, San Francisco 14: Arequipa leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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 Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSan Francisco

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 Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSan Francisco
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 m16 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSan Francisco
City population1,008,290873,965
People per km²1,5511,455
Museums within 10 km351
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 San Francisco 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.