VacationSelector
The red aerial tram nearing the top of Hidden Peak, Snowbird
SnowbirdThe red aerial tram nearing the top of Hidden Peak
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Snowbird by VeggieGarden, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Snowbird 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 Snowbird for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Snowbird’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. Snowbird 5, Varanasi 4: Snowbird leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Snowbird 20, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Snowbird 5, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 75 points.
Nightlife. Snowbird 9, Varanasi 10: Varanasi leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Snowbird 92, Varanasi 18: Snowbird leads by 74 points.
Day trips. Snowbird 47, Varanasi 42: Snowbird leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Snowbird 42, Varanasi 5: Snowbird leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Snowbird 40, Varanasi 28: Snowbird leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Snowbird 8, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Snowbird 15, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Snowbird 8, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Snowbird 40, Varanasi 30: Snowbird leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Snowbird
28match

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

Varanasi
Best match
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.

Snowbird in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
15 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SnowbirdVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Snowbird 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. Snowbird: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSnowbirdVaranasi
Official language-Hindi, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation2,479 m76 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)36 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSnowbirdVaranasi
City population-1,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km02
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 Snowbird or Varanasi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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. 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.