VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • 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. Cologne 14, Lima 42: Lima leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Lima 88: Lima leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Lima 66: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Lima 62: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Lima 45: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Lima 34: Cologne leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Lima 42: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Lima 35: Cologne leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Lima 52: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Lima 70: Lima leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Lima 53: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Lima 25: Cologne leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Lima.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneLima
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 m154 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneLima
City population1,025,5239,943,800
People per km²2,5323,721
Museums within 10 km4047
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
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 Cologne 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). 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. 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 figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.