Photos: Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Tel Aviv 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 Tel Aviv for
- beaches
- nightlife
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’s own page.
Choose Varanasi for
- prices
- culture and sights
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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tel Aviv and Varanasi.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.
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.
Tel Aviv in July
Varanasi in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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. Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Tel Aviv | Varanasi |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Hebrew | Hindi, English |
| Currency | New Israeli Sheqel (ILS) | Indian Rupee (INR) |
| Sockets | CHM230 V, 50 Hz | CM230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer | UTC+5:30 |
| Emergency number | Police 100, fire 102 | 108 or 112 |
| Elevation | 5 m | 76 m |
| Main airport | Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations | Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations |
By the numbers
| Measure | Tel Aviv | Varanasi |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 467,875 | 1,198,491 |
| People per km² | 8,998 | 14,598 |
| Museums within 10 km | 98 | 2 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 7 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tel Aviv or Varanasi somewhere new.