VacationSelector
The colonnaded court of Luxor Temple, Luxor
LuxorThe colonnaded court of Luxor Temple
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Luxor by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Luxor 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 Luxor for

  • families
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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. Luxor 6, Varanasi 4: Luxor leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Luxor 30, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Luxor 95, Varanasi 80: Luxor leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Luxor and Varanasi are level on 10.
Nature & outdoors. Luxor 32, Varanasi 18: Luxor leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Luxor 62, Varanasi 42: Luxor leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Luxor 30, Varanasi 5: Luxor leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Luxor 35, Varanasi 28: Luxor leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Luxor 25, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Luxor 90, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luxor 10, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luxor 28, Varanasi 30: Varanasi leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luxor and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Luxor
38match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Luxor in July

41 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
LuxorVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Luxor has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Luxor: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Luxor (6.5 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureLuxorVaranasi
Official languageArabicHindi, English
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180108 or 112
Elevation89 m76 m
Main airportLuxor International Airport (LXR)7 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLuxorVaranasi
City population202,2321,198,491
People per km²48614,598
Museums within 10 km42
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 Luxor 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. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.