VacationSelector

Skopje 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 Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square, Skopje
Skopje

Photo: George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, cropped

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

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

Your match

Skopje
✓ Best match
46
match

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

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

SkopjeVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Skopje leads by 2 points.2
Food & drink. Varanasi leads by 3 points.3
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 24 points.24
Nightlife. Skopje leads by 32 points.32
Nature & outdoors. Skopje leads by 52 points.52
Day trips. Skopje leads by 14 points.14
Good for families. Skopje leads by 30 points.30
Getting around. Skopje leads by 17 points.17
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 15 points.15
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 12 points.12
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 20 points.20
Wellness & relaxation. Varanasi leads by 3 points.3
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Skopje 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
JulySkopjeVaranasi
Daytime high32 °C35 °C
Night-time low17 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month38 mm249 mm
Sunshine11 hours a dayNo figure
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
Skopje
5
9
14
19
24
29
32
32
26
20
13
6
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Rainfall, mm
Skopje
30
29
33
40
58
47
38
32
32
44
52
40
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Skopje
10
11
12
13
15
15
15
14
13
11
10
9
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11
Sunshine, hours per day
Skopje
3
4
5
7
8
9
11
10
8
6
4
3
Varanasi
No sunshine record

Where the figures come from

Skopje's rainfall is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

Skopje's sunshine is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

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. Skopje: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990, rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Skopje-Petrovec (18.3 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureSkopjeVaranasi
Official languageAlbanian, MacedonianHindi, English
CurrencyDenar (MKD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation251 m76 m
Main airportSkopje International Airport (SKP)16 km from centre52 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSkopjeVaranasi
City population422,5401,198,491
People per km²73914,598
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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