VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cusco or Medellin?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Medellin for

  • families
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Medellin 42: Cusco leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Medellin 66: Cusco leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Medellin 58: Cusco leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Medellin 45: Cusco leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Medellin 30: Cusco leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

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 culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on families and nightlife 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
11 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoMedellin

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.

Medellin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoMedellin
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5
Emergency number111 or 911123
Elevation3,399 m1,405 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoMedellin
City population428,4502,529,403
People per km²-6,644
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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