VacationSelector

Cusco or San Sebastian?

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

La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San Sebastian

Photo: Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
49
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
✓ Best match
60
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.

CuscoSan Sebastian
Beaches & swimming. San Sebastian leads by 65 points.65
Food & drink. San Sebastian leads by 32 points.32
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 29 points.29
Nightlife. San Sebastian leads by 2 points.2
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 14 points.14
Day trips. San Sebastian leads by 2 points.2
Good for families. San Sebastian leads by 56 points.56
Getting around. San Sebastian leads by 32 points.32
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 12 points.12
Affordability. Cusco leads by 41 points.41
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian leads by 15 points.15
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian leads by 17 points.17
0255075100

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

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 Sebastian
Daytime high20 °C22 °C
Night-time low1 °C16 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm92 mm
SunshineNo figure7 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea21 °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 Sebastian
11
12
14
15
18
20
22
23
21
19
14
12
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
San Sebastian
13
12
13
14
16
19
21
22
21
18
16
14
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
San Sebastian
151
125
119
126
122
96
92
109
117
155
203
153
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
San Sebastian
9
11
12
13
15
15
15
14
13
11
10
9
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
San Sebastian
3
4
5
5
7
6
7
6
6
5
3
3

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.

San Sebastian's station stands 252 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). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSan Sebastian
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m6 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSan Sebastian
City population428,450189,866
People per km²-3,118
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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