VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cusco or Newport Beach?

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
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • families
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Newport Beach 50: Cusco leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Newport Beach 20: Cusco leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Newport Beach 33: Cusco leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Newport Beach 66: Cusco leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Newport Beach 70: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 70 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Newport Beach 20: Cusco leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Newport Beach 62: Newport Beach leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Newport Beach 15: Cusco leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Newport Beach 46: Newport Beach leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Newport Beach 44: Newport Beach leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cusco
49match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

Wins on families and beaches 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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoNewport Beach

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). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoNewport Beach
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m3 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoNewport Beach
City population428,45085,239
People per km²-622
Museums within 10 km114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Newport Beach 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.