VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Arequipa or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Zurich 53: Arequipa leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Zurich 58: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 54 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Zurich 3: Arequipa leads by 79 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Zurich.

Your match

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

Arequipa
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

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 recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ArequipaZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaZurich
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencySol (PEN)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation2,335 m408 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaZurich
City population1,008,290440,935
People per km²1,5515,016
Museums within 10 km363
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 Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.