VacationSelector

Cusco or Macau?

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

The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
Macau

Photo: tian Jin, Pexels License

Your match

Cusco
✓ Best match
49
match

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

Macau
46
match

Wins on families and beaches 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.

CuscoMacau
Beaches & swimming. Macau leads by 21 points.21
Food & drink. Macau leads by 21 points.21
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 19 points.19
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 2 points.2
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 81 points.81
Day trips. Cusco leads by 26 points.26
Good for families. Macau leads by 38 points.38
Getting around. Macau leads by 12 points.12
Shopping & style. Macau leads by 6 points.6
Affordability. Cusco leads by 29 points.29
Live music & performing arts. Macau leads by 6 points.6
Wellness & relaxation. Macau leads by 7 points.7
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoMacau
Daytime high20 °C32 °C
Night-time low1 °C26 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm281 mm
SunshineNo figure7 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea29 °C
Daylight11 hours a day13 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
Macau
19
19
22
25
29
31
32
32
31
29
25
20
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Macau
19
19
20
23
26
28
29
29
28
27
24
21
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Macau
34
42
78
160
285
369
281
338
233
71
38
32
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Macau
11
11
12
13
13
14
13
13
12
12
11
11
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Macau
4
3
3
3
4
5
7
6
6
6
5
5

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). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoMacau
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencySol (PEN)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911999
Elevation3,399 m22 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoMacau
City population428,450682,100
People per km²-5,916
Museums within 10 km1128
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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