VacationSelector

Cusco or Ghent?

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

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

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

Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
Ghent

Photo: ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
49
match

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

Ghent
✓ Best match
54
match

Wins on families and getting around 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.

CuscoGhent
Beaches & swimming. Ghent leads by 22 points.22
Food & drink. Ghent leads by 6 points.6
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 9 points.9
Nightlife. Ghent leads by 13 points.13
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 51 points.51
Day trips. Ghent leads by 10 points.10
Good for families. Ghent leads by 40 points.40
Getting around. Ghent leads by 30 points.30
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 2 points.2
Affordability. Cusco leads by 35 points.35
Live music & performing arts. Ghent leads by 30 points.30
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco and Ghent are level on 33.
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoGhent
Daytime high20 °C22 °C
Night-time low1 °C15 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm74 mm
SunshineNo figure8 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea18 °C
Daylight11 hours a day16 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
Cusco
20
19
20
20
21
21
20
21
21
21
22
20
Ghent
6
7
10
13
17
20
22
22
19
15
10
7
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Ghent
6
6
6
9
12
16
18
19
18
15
11
8
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Ghent
59
52
44
35
51
64
74
79
72
76
78
74
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Ghent
9
10
12
14
16
17
16
15
13
11
9
8
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Ghent
3
3
5
7
8
8
8
7
6
4
3
2

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.

Ghent's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Ghent: 1991-2020 normals, Vlissingen (44.9 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoGhent
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m12 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre190 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoGhent
City population428,450272,657
People per km²-1,728
Museums within 10 km1130
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Ghent 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.