VacationSelector

Cusco or Paphos?

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 lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
Paphos

Photo: Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

Your match

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cusco
49
match

Wins on shopping and prices with your weighting.

Paphos
50
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.

CuscoPaphos
Beaches & swimming. Paphos leads by 73 points.73
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 11 points.11
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 19 points.19
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 4 points.4
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 16 points.16
Day trips. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Good for families. Paphos leads by 58 points.58
Getting around. Cusco leads by 8 points.8
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 27 points.27
Affordability. Cusco leads by 21 points.21
Live music & performing arts. Cusco leads by 8 points.8
Wellness & relaxation. Paphos leads by 9 points.9
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoPaphos
Daytime high20 °C30 °C
Night-time low1 °C21 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm1 mm
Sea temperatureNo sea27 °C
Daylight11 hours a day14 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
Paphos
17
17
19
21
25
28
30
31
29
27
23
19
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Paphos
17
17
17
18
21
24
27
28
27
25
22
19
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Paphos
81
47
29
17
10
2
1
0
5
14
42
98
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Paphos
10
11
12
13
14
14
14
14
12
11
10
10

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.

Paphos's rainfall is measured 111 km from the centre, at Larnaca Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoPaphos
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaTurkish, Greek, Modern Greek
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m72 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre59 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoPaphos
City population428,45035,961
People per km²-1,987
Museums within 10 km114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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