VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Victoria Falls?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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, Victoria Falls 7: Arequipa leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Victoria Falls 24: Arequipa leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Victoria Falls 12: Arequipa leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Victoria Falls 8: Arequipa leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Victoria Falls 22: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Victoria Falls 38: Victoria Falls leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Victoria Falls 45: Arequipa leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Victoria Falls 18: Arequipa leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Victoria Falls 32: Arequipa leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Victoria Falls 10: Arequipa leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa and Victoria Falls are level on 34.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Victoria Falls.

Your match

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

Arequipa
Best match
46match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Victoria Falls
29match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
11 hdaylight a day

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaVictoria Falls

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). Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaVictoria Falls
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencySol (PEN)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number111 or 911999
Elevation2,335 m961 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaVictoria Falls
City population1,008,29033,060
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km32
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 Victoria Falls 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. 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.