VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Arequipa or Washington DC?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Washington DC 64: Arequipa leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Washington DC 28: Arequipa leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Washington DC 26: Arequipa leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

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

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips 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 seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaWashington DC
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation2,335 m72 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaWashington DC
City population1,008,290689,545
People per km²1,5513,896
Museums within 10 km398
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Washington DC 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.