VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Seattle?

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

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa and Seattle are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Seattle 50: Arequipa leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Seattle 22: Arequipa leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Seattle.

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.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSeattle
City population1,008,290737,015
People per km²1,5511,996
Museums within 10 km327
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 Seattle 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.