VacationSelector

Siena 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 cathedral facade, Siena
Siena

Photo: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

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

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

Your match

Siena
✓ Best match
51
match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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.

SienaVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Siena leads by 10 points.10
Food & drink. Siena leads by 7 points.7
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 2 points.2
Nightlife. Siena leads by 17 points.17
Nature & outdoors. Siena leads by 47 points.47
Day trips. Siena leads by 52 points.52
Good for families. Siena leads by 33 points.33
Getting around. Siena leads by 32 points.32
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 20 points.20
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 50 points.50
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 22 points.22
Wellness & relaxation. Siena leads by 25 points.25
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Siena 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
JulySienaVaranasi
Daytime high31 °C35 °C
Night-time low17 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month53 mm249 mm
Daylight15 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
Siena
9
11
15
20
23
28
31
31
26
20
14
10
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Rainfall, mm
Siena
71
79
107
75
99
71
53
49
103
86
136
110
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Siena
9
11
12
13
15
15
15
14
13
11
10
9
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11

Where the figures come from

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena's rainfall is measured 115 km from the centre, at Frontone.

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. Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureSienaVaranasi
Official languageItalianHindi, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation322 m76 m
Main airportFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSienaVaranasi
City population52,8121,198,491
People per km²44614,598
Museums within 10 km292
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Siena 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. 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.