VacationSelector

Cologne or Cusco?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
Cologne

Photo: Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
Cusco

Photo: Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Cologne
✓ Best match
58
match

Wins on families and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Cusco
49
match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

CologneCusco
Beaches & swimming. Cologne leads by 11 points.11
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 4 points.4
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Nightlife. Cologne leads by 24 points.24
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 30 points.30
Day trips. Cologne leads by 2 points.2
Good for families. Cologne leads by 60 points.60
Getting around. Cologne leads by 26 points.26
Shopping & style. Cologne leads by 5 points.5
Affordability. Cusco leads by 27 points.27
Live music & performing arts. Cologne leads by 38 points.38
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne leads by 17 points.17
0255075100

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

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyCologneCusco
Daytime high25 °C20 °C
Night-time low16 °C1 °C
Rainfall in the month81 mm5 mm
Sunshine7 hours a dayNo figure
Daylight16 hours a day11 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Cologne
6
7
12
16
20
23
25
25
21
15
10
7
Cusco
20
19
20
20
21
21
20
21
21
21
22
20
Rainfall, mm
Cologne
64
56
53
48
60
76
81
81
67
65
68
72
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Daylight, hours per day
Cologne
9
10
12
14
16
16
16
15
13
11
9
8
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Sunshine, hours per day
Cologne
2
2
4
6
7
7
7
6
5
3
2
1
Cusco
No sunshine record

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. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCologneCusco
Official languageGermanSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation59 m3,399 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneCusco
City population1,024,621428,450
People per km²2,530-
Museums within 10 km4011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.