VacationSelector
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

Photos: Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Varanasi or Victoria Falls?

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 Varanasi for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’s own page.

Choose Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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. Varanasi 4, Victoria Falls 7: Victoria Falls leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Varanasi 55, Victoria Falls 24: Varanasi leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Varanasi 80, Victoria Falls 12: Varanasi leads by 68 points.
Nightlife. Varanasi 10, Victoria Falls 8: Varanasi leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Varanasi 18, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 76 points.
Day trips. Varanasi 42, Victoria Falls 22: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Varanasi 5, Victoria Falls 38: Victoria Falls leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Varanasi 28, Victoria Falls 45: Victoria Falls leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Varanasi 55, Victoria Falls 18: Varanasi leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Varanasi 92, Victoria Falls 32: Varanasi leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi 58, Victoria Falls 10: Varanasi leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Varanasi 30, Victoria Falls 34: Victoria Falls leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Varanasi and Victoria Falls.

Your match

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

Varanasi
Best match
40match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Victoria Falls
29match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
VaranasiVictoria Falls

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. Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVaranasiVictoria Falls
Official languageHindi, EnglishEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2
Emergency number108 or 112999
Elevation76 m961 m
Main airportLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureVaranasiVictoria Falls
City population1,198,49133,060
People per km²14,598-
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Varanasi or Victoria Falls somewhere new.

Browse every destination

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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.