VacationSelector

Cusco or Ottawa?

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

Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
Ottawa

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Cusco
49
match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Ottawa
51
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.

CuscoOttawa
Beaches & swimming. Ottawa leads by 32 points.32
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 11 points.11
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 19 points.19
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 7 points.7
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 18 points.18
Day trips. Cusco leads by 23 points.23
Good for families. Ottawa leads by 58 points.58
Getting around. Ottawa leads by 14 points.14
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 12 points.12
Affordability. Cusco leads by 33 points.33
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa leads by 22 points.22
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa leads by 22 points.22
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoOttawa
Daytime high20 °C27 °C
Night-time low1 °C16 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm82 mm
Daylight11 hours a day15 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
Ottawa
-5
-3
3
11
19
24
27
26
22
14
6
-2
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Ottawa
60
53
56
74
66
87
82
89
78
94
59
80
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Ottawa
9
10
12
14
15
16
15
14
13
11
10
9

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). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoOttawa
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaFrench, English
CurrencySol (PEN)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m70 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoOttawa
City population428,4501,017,449
People per km²-366
Museums within 10 km1120
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Ottawa 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. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

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.