VacationSelector

Rio de Janeiro 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.

Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro

Photo: Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped

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

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

Your match

Rio de Janeiro
✓ Best match
62
match

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

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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.

Rio de JaneiroVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Rio de Janeiro leads by 88 points.88
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro leads by 7 points.7
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 12 points.12
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro leads by 70 points.70
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro leads by 72 points.72
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.8
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro leads by 45 points.45
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro leads by 16 points.16
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 5 points.5
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 32 points.32
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.8
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro and Varanasi are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro 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
JulyRio de JaneiroVaranasi
Daytime high24 °C35 °C
Night-time low18 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month45 mm249 mm
Sea temperature22 °CNo sea
Daylight11 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
Rio de Janeiro
28
28
28
27
25
24
24
25
25
26
26
27
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Sea temperature, °C
Rio de Janeiro
25
25
25
25
24
23
22
21
21
22
23
24
Varanasi
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Rio de Janeiro
208
151
173
101
71
49
45
42
69
108
220
232
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Rio de Janeiro
13
13
12
12
11
11
11
11
12
13
13
14
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro 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.

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. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroVaranasi
Official languagePortugueseHindi, English
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCN60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193108 or 112
Elevation31 m76 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroVaranasi
City population6,211,2231,198,491
People per km²4,93014,598
Museums within 10 km702
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. 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.