VacationSelector
A heritage tram before the Regent building, Christchurch
ChristchurchA heritage tram before the Regent building
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Christchurch by Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Christchurch 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 Christchurch for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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.

Beaches & swimming. Christchurch 38, Varanasi 4: Christchurch leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Christchurch 45, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Christchurch 38, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Christchurch 32, Varanasi 10: Christchurch leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Christchurch 84, Varanasi 18: Christchurch leads by 66 points.
Day trips. Christchurch 45, Varanasi 42: Christchurch leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Christchurch 66, Varanasi 5: Christchurch leads by 61 points.
Getting around. Christchurch 48, Varanasi 28: Christchurch leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Christchurch 32, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Christchurch 38, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Christchurch 38, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Christchurch 45, Varanasi 30: Christchurch leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Christchurch and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Christchurch
Best match
46match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on prices 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.

Christchurch in July

11 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
9 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChristchurchVaranasi

Where the figures come from

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. Christchurch: 1991-2020 normals, Christchurch (8.7 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureChristchurchVaranasi
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriHindi, English
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number111108 or 112
Elevation20 m76 m
Main airportChristchurch International Airport (CHC)10 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureChristchurchVaranasi
City population383,2001,198,491
People per km²1,29814,598
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Christchurch or Varanasi 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.