VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Barcelona 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 Barcelona for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Barcelona’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. Barcelona 75, Lima 42: Barcelona leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Lima 88: Lima leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Lima 66: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Lima 62: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Lima 45: Barcelona leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Lima 34: Barcelona leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Lima 42: Barcelona leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Lima 35: Barcelona leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Lima 52: Barcelona leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Lima 70: Lima leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Lima 53: Barcelona leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Lima 25: Barcelona leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Lima.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

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.

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaLima
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation9 m154 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaLima
City population1,731,6499,943,800
People per km²17,0943,721
Museums within 10 km9547
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona 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.