VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Xi'an?

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
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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, Xi'an 4: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Xi'an 62: Arequipa leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Xi'an 80: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaXi'an

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). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaXi'an
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPutonghua
CurrencySol (PEN)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation2,335 m405 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaXi'an
City population1,008,29012,952,907
People per km²1,5511,283
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Arequipa or Xi'an 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. 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.