VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo 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 Colombo for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Cusco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Colombo 55, Cusco 3: Colombo leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Cusco 56: Colombo leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Cusco 81: Cusco leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Cusco 42: Cusco leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Cusco 86: Cusco leads by 54 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Cusco 78: Cusco leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Cusco 10: Colombo leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Cusco 48: Cusco leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Cusco 52: Cusco leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Cusco 73: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo and Cusco are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Cusco 33: Colombo leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Cusco.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Cusco
Best match
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Cusco in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboCusco

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. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboCusco
Official languageTamil, SinhalaSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110111 or 911
Elevation1 m3,399 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboCusco
City population647,557428,450
People per km²17,361-
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.