VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Angkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway, Siem Reap
Siem ReapAngkor Wat beyond the palms of the causeway

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Siem Reap by allPhoto Bangkok, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Siem Reap?

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
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Siem Reap for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Siem Reap’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, Siem Reap 5: Arequipa leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Siem Reap 45: Arequipa leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Siem Reap 42: Siem Reap leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Siem Reap 40: Arequipa leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Siem Reap 55: Siem Reap leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Arequipa and Siem Reap are level on 35.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Siem Reap 30: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Siem Reap 38: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Siem Reap 88: Siem Reap leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Siem Reap 32: Siem Reap leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Siem Reap 60: Siem Reap leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Siem Reap.

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 nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Siem Reap
47match

Wins on wellness and day trips 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

Siem Reap in July

30 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaSiem Reap

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.

Siem Reap has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Siem Reap: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureArequipaSiem Reap
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaKhmer
CurrencySol (PEN)Riel (KHR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 117, ambulance 119, fire 118
Elevation2,335 m18 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSiem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI)39 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaSiem Reap
City population1,008,290147,866
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km36
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Siem Reap 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.