VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cebu 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 Cebu for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Cebu 60, Lima 42: Cebu leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Lima 88: Lima leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Lima 66: Lima leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Lima 62: Lima leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Lima 45: Cebu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Lima 34: Cebu leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Cebu 45, Lima 42: Cebu leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Lima 35: Lima leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Lima 52: Lima leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Cebu 80, Lima 70: Cebu leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Lima 53: Lima leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Lima 25: Cebu leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Lima.

Your match

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

Cebu
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CebuLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuLima
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Sol (PEN)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency number911111 or 911
Elevation135 m154 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCebuLima
City population965,3329,943,800
People per km²3,0653,721
Museums within 10 km547
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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