VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Lima for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Boston 35, Lima 42: Lima leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Lima 88: Lima leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Lima 66: Boston leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Lima 62: Lima leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Lima 45: Boston leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Lima 34: Boston leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Lima 42: Boston leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Lima 35: Boston leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Lima 52: Boston leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Lima 70: Lima leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Lima 53: Boston leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Lima 25: Boston leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Lima.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonLima
Official language-Spanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Sol (PEN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911111 or 911
Elevation43 m154 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonLima
City population675,6479,943,800
People per km²2,9103,721
Museums within 10 km5147
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.