VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bucharest 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 Bucharest for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Lima for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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. Bucharest 8, Lima 42: Lima leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Lima 88: Lima leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Lima 66: Lima leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Lima 62: Bucharest leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest and Lima are level on 45.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Lima 34: Bucharest leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Lima 42: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Lima 35: Bucharest leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Lima 52: Lima leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Bucharest and Lima are level on 70.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Lima 53: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Lima 25: Bucharest leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Bucharest
51match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on beaches 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.

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
BucharestLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBucharestLima
Official languageRomanianSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation70 m154 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestLima
City population1,716,9619,943,800
People per km²7,5973,721
Museums within 10 km4147
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bucharest 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.