VacationSelector

Cusco or San Jose?

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 Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San Jose

Photo: Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
✓ Best match
49
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose
45
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.

CuscoSan Jose
Beaches & swimming. San Jose leads by 27 points.27
Food & drink. Cusco and San Jose are level on 56.
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 45 points.45
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 9 points.9
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Day trips. Cusco and San Jose are level on 78.
Good for families. San Jose leads by 55 points.55
Getting around. Cusco leads by 18 points.18
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 4 points.4
Affordability. Cusco leads by 53 points.53
Live music & performing arts. San Jose leads by 8 points.8
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco leads by 3 points.3
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoSan Jose
Daytime high20 °C27 °C
Night-time low1 °C15 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm0 mm
Sea temperatureNo sea14 °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
San Jose
15
17
19
21
23
26
27
27
27
24
19
17
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
San Jose
12
12
12
12
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
13
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
San Jose
50
78
51
25
9
2
0
0
2
15
33
62
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
San Jose
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSan Jose
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m25 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSan Jose
City population428,4501,013,240
People per km²-2,167
Museums within 10 km1119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 San Jose 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. 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.