VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Hiroshima 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 Hiroshima for

  • families
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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. Hiroshima 30, Varanasi 4: Hiroshima leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Varanasi 55: Hiroshima leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Varanasi 10: Hiroshima leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Varanasi 18: Hiroshima leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima 80, Varanasi 42: Hiroshima leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Varanasi 5: Hiroshima leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Varanasi 28: Hiroshima leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Varanasi 30: Hiroshima leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hiroshima and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Hiroshima
Best match
56match

Wins on families and getting around 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.

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaVaranasi

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. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaVaranasi
Official languageJapaneseHindi, English
CurrencyYen (JPY)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119108 or 112
Elevation3 m76 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaVaranasi
City population1,198,0211,198,491
People per km²1,32414,598
Museums within 10 km182
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Varanasi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.