diff --git a/python/CHANGELOG.rst b/python/CHANGELOG.rst
index c56924323f..8c0ba3fcab 100644
--- a/python/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/python/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@
 - Edges now have an ``.interval`` attribute returning a ``tskit.Interval`` object.
   (:user:`hyanwong`, :pr:`2531`)
 
+- Variants now have a `states()` method that returns the genotypes as an
+   (inefficient) array of strings, rather than integer indexes, to
+   aid comparison of genetic variation (:user:`hyanwong`, :pr:`2617`)
+
 - Added ``distance_between`` that calculates the total distance between two nodes in a tree.
   (:user:`Billyzhang1229`, :pr:`2771`)
 
@@ -96,6 +100,7 @@
 - Add ``Tree.rf_distance`` method to calculate the unweighted Robinson-Foulds distance
   between two trees. (:user:`Billyzhang1229`, :issue:`995`, :pr:`2643`, :pr:`3032`)
 
+
 --------------------
 [0.5.8] - 2024-06-27
 --------------------
@@ -217,7 +222,6 @@
    to ``None``, which is treated as ``True``. Previously, passing ``None``
    would result in an error. (:user:`hyanwong`, :pr:`2609`, :issue:`2608`)
 
-
 --------------------
 [0.5.3] - 2022-10-03
 --------------------
diff --git a/python/tests/test_genotypes.py b/python/tests/test_genotypes.py
index 329867b600..8f1194d90a 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_genotypes.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_genotypes.py
@@ -655,6 +655,65 @@ def test_snipped_tree_sequence_mutations_over_isolated(self):
         assert non_missing_found
         assert missing_found
 
+    def get_missing_data_ts(self):
+        tables = tskit.TableCollection(1.0)
+        tables.nodes.add_row(tskit.NODE_IS_SAMPLE, 0)
+        tables.nodes.add_row(tskit.NODE_IS_SAMPLE, 0)
+        tables.nodes.add_row(tskit.NODE_IS_SAMPLE, 0)
+        s = tables.sites.add_row(0, "A")
+        tables.mutations.add_row(site=s, derived_state="B", node=1)
+        tables.mutations.add_row(site=s, derived_state="C", node=2)
+        s = tables.sites.add_row(0.5, "")
+        tables.mutations.add_row(site=s, derived_state="A long string", node=2)
+        return tables.tree_sequence()
+
+    def test_states(self):
+        ts = self.get_missing_data_ts()
+        v_iter = ts.variants(isolated_as_missing=False)
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        assert np.array_equal(v.states(), np.array(["A", "B", "C"]))
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        assert np.array_equal(v.states(), np.array(["", "", "A long string"]))
+        # With no mssing data, it shouldn't matter if the missing string = an allele
+        assert np.array_equal(
+            v.states(missing_data_string=""), np.array(["", "", "A long string"])
+        )
+
+        v_iter = ts.variants(isolated_as_missing=True)
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        assert np.array_equal(v.states(), np.array(["N", "B", "C"]))
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        assert np.array_equal(v.states(), np.array(["N", "N", "A long string"]))
+        assert np.array_equal(
+            v.states(missing_data_string="MISSING"),
+            np.array(["MISSING", "MISSING", "A long string"]),
+        )
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("missing", [True, False])
+    def test_states_haplotypes_equiv(self, missing):
+        ts = msprime.sim_ancestry(2, sequence_length=20, random_seed=1)
+        ts = msprime.sim_mutations(ts, rate=0.1, random_seed=1)
+        assert ts.num_sites > 5
+        tables = ts.dump_tables()
+        tables.delete_intervals([[0, ts.site(4).position]])
+        tables.sites.replace_with(ts.tables.sites)
+        ts = tables.tree_sequence()
+        states = np.array(
+            [v.states() for v in ts.variants(isolated_as_missing=missing)]
+        )
+        for h1, h2 in zip(ts.haplotypes(isolated_as_missing=missing), states.T):
+            assert h1 == "".join(h2)
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("s", ["", "A long string", True, np.nan, 0, -1])
+    def test_bad_states(self, s):
+        ts = self.get_missing_data_ts()
+        v_iter = ts.variants(isolated_as_missing=True)
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        v = next(v_iter)
+        match = "existing allele" if isinstance(s, str) else "not a string"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=match):
+            v.states(missing_data_string=s)
+
 
 class TestLimitInterval:
     def test_simple_case(self, ts_fixture):
diff --git a/python/tskit/genotypes.py b/python/tskit/genotypes.py
index cf82ca8902..15fffba0bf 100644
--- a/python/tskit/genotypes.py
+++ b/python/tskit/genotypes.py
@@ -245,6 +245,35 @@ def copy(self) -> Variant:
         variant_copy._ll_variant = self._ll_variant.restricted_copy()
         return variant_copy
 
+    def states(self, missing_data_string=None) -> np.ndarray:
+        """
+        Returns the allelic states at this site as an array of strings.
+
+        .. warning::
+            Using this method is inefficient compared to working with the
+            underlying integer representation of genotypes as returned by
+            the :attr:`~Variant.genotypes` property.
+
+        :param str missing_data_string: A string that will be used to represent missing
+            data. If any normal allele contains this character, an error is raised.
+            Default: `None`, treated as `'N'`.
+        :return: An numpy array of strings of length ``num_sites``.
+        """
+        if missing_data_string is None:
+            missing_data_string = "N"
+        elif not isinstance(missing_data_string, str):
+            # Must explicitly test here, otherwise we output a numpy object array
+            raise ValueError("Missing data string is not a string")
+        alleles = self.alleles
+        if alleles[-1] is None:
+            if missing_data_string in alleles:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "An existing allele is equal to the "
+                    f"missing data string '{missing_data_string}'"
+                )
+            alleles = alleles[:-1] + (missing_data_string,)
+        return np.array(alleles)[self.genotypes]
+
     def counts(self) -> typing.Counter[str | None]:
         """
         Returns a :class:`python:collections.Counter` object providing counts for each