VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Athens or Lima?

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 Athens for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Lima for

  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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. Athens 70, Lima 42: Athens leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Lima 88: Lima leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Lima 66: Athens leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Lima 62: Athens leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Lima 45: Athens leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Lima 34: Athens leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Lima 42: Athens leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Lima 35: Athens leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Lima 52: Athens leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Lima 70: Lima leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Lima 53: Athens leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Lima 25: Athens leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Lima.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AthensLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensLima
Official languageGreekSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation74 m154 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensLima
City population643,4529,943,800
People per km²16,4993,721
Museums within 10 km8847
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens or Lima somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.