VacationSelector
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Scottsdale 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 Scottsdale for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Scottsdale 8, Varanasi 4: Scottsdale leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Scottsdale 46, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Scottsdale 38, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Scottsdale 52, Varanasi 10: Scottsdale leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Scottsdale 68, Varanasi 18: Scottsdale leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Scottsdale 50, Varanasi 42: Scottsdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Scottsdale 60, Varanasi 5: Scottsdale leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Scottsdale 20, Varanasi 28: Varanasi leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Scottsdale 60, Varanasi 55: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Scottsdale 32, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Scottsdale 40, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Scottsdale 72, Varanasi 30: Scottsdale leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Scottsdale and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Scottsdale
Best match
46match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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.

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 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
ScottsdaleVaranasi

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. Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureScottsdaleVaranasi
Official language-Hindi, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7UTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation380 m76 m
Main airportPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureScottsdaleVaranasi
City population241,3611,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km102
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 Scottsdale 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). 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.