VacationSelector

Cusco or Palermo?

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

Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
Palermo

Photo: Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License

Your match

Cusco
49
match

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

Palermo
✓ Best match
62
match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

CuscoPalermo
Beaches & swimming. Palermo leads by 74 points.74
Food & drink. Palermo leads by 25 points.25
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 1 points.1
Nightlife. Palermo leads by 16 points.16
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Day trips. Palermo leads by 6 points.6
Good for families. Palermo leads by 34 points.34
Getting around. Palermo leads by 2 points.2
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 8 points.8
Affordability. Cusco leads by 10 points.10
Live music & performing arts. Palermo leads by 32 points.32
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco leads by 3 points.3
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Palermo.

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
JulyCuscoPalermo
Daytime high20 °C28 °C
Night-time low1 °C21 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm4 mm
SunshineNo figure11 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea26 °C
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
Palermo
13
13
14
16
20
24
28
28
25
21
17
14
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Palermo
15
14
15
16
19
22
26
27
25
23
20
17
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Palermo
48
45
35
35
18
9
4
11
37
67
71
69
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Palermo
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
11
10
10
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Palermo
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
10
8
7
5
4

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.

Palermo's temperatures are measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Palermo's station stands 236 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer 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). Palermo: 1961-1990 normals, Ustica (66.8 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoPalermo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaItalian
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m14 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoPalermo
City population428,450630,167
People per km²-3,924
Museums within 10 km1142
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Palermo 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.