VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Busan 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 Busan for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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. Busan 68, Lima 42: Busan leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Lima 88: Lima leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Lima 66: Lima leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Lima 62: Lima leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Lima 45: Busan leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Lima 34: Busan leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Lima 42: Busan leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Lima 35: Busan leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Lima 52: Busan leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Lima 70: Lima leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Lima 53: Lima leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Lima 25: Busan leads by 53 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Lima.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanLima
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyWon (KRW)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119111 or 911
Elevation30 m154 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanLima
City population3,453,1989,943,800
People per km²4,4863,721
Museums within 10 km747
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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