VacationSelector

Cusco or Reykjavik?

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 city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
Reykjavik

Photo: Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License

Your match

Cusco
✓ Best match
49
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44
match

Wins on wellness 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.

CuscoReykjavik
Beaches & swimming. Reykjavik leads by 9 points.9
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 56 points.56
Nightlife. Reykjavik leads by 3 points.3
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik leads by 6 points.6
Day trips. Cusco leads by 43 points.43
Good for families. Reykjavik leads by 45 points.45
Getting around. Reykjavik leads by 7 points.7
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 27 points.27
Affordability. Cusco leads by 67 points.67
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik leads by 15 points.15
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik leads by 55 points.55
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoReykjavik
Daytime high20 °C15 °C
Night-time low1 °C9 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm50 mm
SunshineNo figure6 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea11 °C
Daylight11 hours a day20 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
Reykjavik
3
3
4
7
10
13
15
14
11
8
5
3
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Reykjavik
5
5
5
6
7
10
11
11
10
8
7
6
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Reykjavik
86
87
84
56
49
41
50
66
87
80
86
97
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Reykjavik
6
9
12
15
18
21
20
16
13
10
7
4
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Reykjavik
1
2
4
5
7
6
6
5
4
3
1
0

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). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoReykjavik
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaIcelandic
CurrencySol (PEN)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m8 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoReykjavik
City population428,450138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km1123
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Reykjavik 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. 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.