VacationSelector

Paphos or Varanasi?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
Paphos

Photo: Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Paphos
✓ Best match
50
match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Varanasi
40
match

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

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

PaphosVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Paphos leads by 72 points.72
Food & drink. Varanasi leads by 10 points.10
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 18 points.18
Nightlife. Paphos leads by 28 points.28
Nature & outdoors. Paphos leads by 52 points.52
Day trips. Paphos leads by 22 points.22
Good for families. Paphos leads by 63 points.63
Getting around. Paphos leads by 12 points.12
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 30 points.30
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 40 points.40
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 36 points.36
Wellness & relaxation. Paphos leads by 12 points.12
0255075100

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

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyPaphosVaranasi
Daytime high30 °C35 °C
Night-time low21 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month1 mm249 mm
Sea temperature27 °CNo sea
Daylight14 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Paphos
17
17
19
21
25
28
30
31
29
27
23
19
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Sea temperature, °C
Paphos
17
17
17
18
21
24
27
28
27
25
22
19
Varanasi
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Paphos
81
47
29
17
10
2
1
0
5
14
42
98
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Paphos
10
11
12
13
14
14
14
14
12
11
10
10
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11

Where the figures come from

Paphos's rainfall is measured 111 km from the centre, at Larnaca Airport.

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. Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasurePaphosVaranasi
Official languageTurkish, Greek, Modern GreekHindi, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation72 m76 m
Main airportPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre59 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePaphosVaranasi
City population35,9611,198,491
People per km²1,98714,598
Museums within 10 km42
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Paphos 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.