VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Santa Monica?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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 Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Santa Monica 60: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Santa Monica 35: Arequipa leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Santa Monica 72: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Santa Monica 52: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Santa Monica 14: Arequipa leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSanta Monica

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). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSanta Monica
City population1,008,29093,076
People per km²1,5514,270
Museums within 10 km319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.