VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Sao Paulo?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Sao Paulo 60: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Sao Paulo 48: Arequipa leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Sao Paulo 44: Arequipa leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Sao Paulo 62: Arequipa leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Sao Paulo 25: Arequipa leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSao Paulo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPortuguese
CurrencySol (PEN)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number111 or 911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation2,335 m760 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSao Paulo
City population1,008,29011,451,999
People per km²1,5517,519
Museums within 10 km390
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 Sao Paulo 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.