VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The old railway depot in the snow, Steamboat Springs
Steamboat SpringsThe old railway depot in the snow

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Steamboat Springs by Jeffrey Beall, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cusco or Steamboat Springs?

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
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Steamboat Springs for

  • families
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Steamboat Springs’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, Steamboat Springs 7: Steamboat Springs leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Steamboat Springs 30: Cusco leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Steamboat Springs 14: Cusco leads by 67 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Steamboat Springs 20: Cusco leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Steamboat Springs 88: Steamboat Springs leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Steamboat Springs 12: Cusco leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Steamboat Springs 62: Steamboat Springs leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Steamboat Springs 46: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Steamboat Springs 22: Cusco leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Steamboat Springs 17: Cusco leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Steamboat Springs 28: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Steamboat Springs 70: Steamboat Springs leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Steamboat Springs.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Steamboat Springs
35match

Wins on families and wellness 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

Steamboat Springs in July

28 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoSteamboat Springs

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.

Steamboat Springs 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). Steamboat Springs: 2011-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Steamboat Springs / Steamboat Ii (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSteamboat Springs
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m2,052 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsYampa Valley Airport (HDN)33 km from centre17 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSteamboat Springs
City population428,45013,224
People per km²-503
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 Steamboat Springs 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.