Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Arequipa or Varanasi?
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
- families
- nightlife
What lies behind each score is written up on Arequipa’s own page.
Choose Varanasi for
- live music and the arts
- culture and sights
- day trips
What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Varanasi.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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
Varanasi in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Varanasi 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). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Arequipa | Varanasi |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Aymara, Quechua | Hindi, English |
| Currency | Sol (PEN) | Indian Rupee (INR) |
| Sockets | ABC220 V, 60 Hz | CM230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC+5:30 |
| Emergency number | 111 or 911 | 108 or 112 |
| Elevation | 2,335 m | 76 m |
| Main airport | Rodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinations | Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 17 days | - |
By the numbers
| Measure | Arequipa | Varanasi |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,008,290 | 1,198,491 |
| People per km² | 1,551 | 14,598 |
| Museums within 10 km | 3 | 2 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Varanasi somewhere new.