VacationSelector
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Varanasi or Windhoek?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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 and Windhoek are level on 4.
Food & drink. Varanasi 55, Windhoek 36: Varanasi leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Varanasi 80, Windhoek 30: Varanasi leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Varanasi 10, Windhoek 25: Windhoek leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Varanasi 18, Windhoek 52: Windhoek leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Varanasi 42, Windhoek 14: Varanasi leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Varanasi 5, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Varanasi 28, Windhoek 22: Varanasi leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Varanasi 55, Windhoek 30: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Varanasi 92, Windhoek 62: Varanasi leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi 58, Windhoek 18: Varanasi leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Varanasi and Windhoek are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Varanasi and Windhoek.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Windhoek
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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
VaranasiWindhoek

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. Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVaranasiWindhoek
Official languageHindi, EnglishEnglish
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2
Emergency number108 or 112112
Elevation76 m1,650 m
Main airportLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureVaranasiWindhoek
City population1,198,491486,169
People per km²14,59895
Museums within 10 km25
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 Windhoek 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.