VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Santa Fe?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’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, Santa Fe 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Santa Fe 62: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Santa Fe 66: Santa Fe leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Santa Fe 22: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Santa Fe 70: Santa Fe leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Santa Fe 45: Santa Fe leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Santa Fe 40: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Santa Fe 30: Arequipa leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Fe
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips 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

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSanta Fe

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.

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSanta Fe
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 m2,134 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSanta Fe
City population1,008,29087,505
People per km²1,551645
Museums within 10 km310
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 Santa Fe 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.