VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Cusco or Penang?

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

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Penang for

  • families
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’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, Penang 44: Penang leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Penang 86: Penang leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Penang 70: Cusco leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Penang 40: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Penang 55: Cusco leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Penang 42: Cusco leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Penang 52: Penang leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Penang 40: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Penang 42: Cusco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Penang 78: Penang leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco and Penang are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Penang 42: Penang leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Penang.

Your match

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

Cusco
49match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Penang
Best match
52match

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

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoPenang

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). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoPenang
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaMalay
CurrencySol (PEN)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911999
Elevation3,399 m4 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoPenang
City population428,450794,313
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Penang 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.