VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or San Jose?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 Jose 30: San Jose leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, San Jose 56: Arequipa leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, San Jose 36: Arequipa leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, San Jose 33: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, San Jose 72: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, San Jose 30: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, San Jose 20: Arequipa leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, San Jose 30: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and San Jose.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips 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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSan Jose

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 Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSan Jose
City population1,008,2901,013,240
People per km²1,5512,167
Museums within 10 km319
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 Jose 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.