VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Cusco or Johannesburg?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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, Johannesburg 5: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Johannesburg 56: Cusco leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Johannesburg 55: Cusco leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Johannesburg 52: Cusco leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Johannesburg 18: Cusco leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Johannesburg 72: Cusco leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Johannesburg 28: Cusco leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cusco
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on families and live music and the arts 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 recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoJohannesburg

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). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoJohannesburg
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencySol (PEN)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m1,753 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoJohannesburg
City population428,4504,803,262
People per km²-2,922
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Johannesburg 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.