VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cusco or Sedona?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sedona for

  • wellness
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Sedona leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Sedona 33: Cusco leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Sedona 20: Cusco leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Sedona 8: Cusco leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Sedona 55: Cusco leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Sedona 42: Sedona leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Sedona 22: Cusco leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Sedona 34: Cusco leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Sedona 18: Cusco leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Sedona 13: Cusco leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Sedona.

Your match

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

Cusco
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sedona
36match

Wins on wellness and families 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
11 hdaylight a day

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoSedona

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.

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSedona
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m1,319 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSedona
City population428,4509,684
People per km²-195
Museums within 10 km110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Sedona 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.