VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cusco or Hurghada?

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 Cusco for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’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. Cusco 3, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 81 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Hurghada 34: Cusco leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Hurghada 14: Cusco leads by 67 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Hurghada 40: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Hurghada 72: Cusco leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Hurghada 30: Cusco leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Hurghada 62: Hurghada leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Hurghada 22: Cusco leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Hurghada 24: Cusco leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Hurghada 80: Hurghada leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Hurghada 10: Cusco leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Hurghada 44: Hurghada leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Hurghada.

Your match

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

Cusco
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cusco in July

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoHurghada

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. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoHurghada
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaArabic
CurrencySol (PEN)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation3,399 m11 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoHurghada
City population428,450214,247
Museums within 10 km111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Hurghada 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). 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.