VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Cusco?

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 Chengdu for

  • families
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Cusco for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Cusco’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. Chengdu 5, Cusco 3: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Cusco 56: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Cusco 81: Cusco leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Cusco 42: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Cusco 86: Cusco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Cusco 78: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Cusco 10: Chengdu leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Cusco 48: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Cusco 52: Chengdu leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Cusco 73: Chengdu leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Cusco 30: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Cusco 33: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on families and food and drink with your weighting.

Cusco
49match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduCusco

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduCusco
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Sol (PEN)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119111 or 911
Elevation500 m3,399 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduCusco
City population20,937,757428,450
People per km²1,456-
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chengdu or Cusco 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.