VacationSelector

Cusco or Tokyo?

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

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
Tokyo

Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
49
match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tokyo
✓ Best match
80
match

Wins on families and live music and the arts 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.

CuscoTokyo
Beaches & swimming. Tokyo leads by 37 points.37
Food & drink. Tokyo leads by 42 points.42
Culture & sights. Tokyo leads by 3 points.3
Nightlife. Tokyo leads by 44 points.44
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 18 points.18
Day trips. Tokyo leads by 7 points.7
Good for families. Tokyo leads by 85 points.85
Getting around. Tokyo leads by 50 points.50
Shopping & style. Tokyo leads by 47 points.47
Affordability. Cusco leads by 25 points.25
Live music & performing arts. Tokyo leads by 56 points.56
Wellness & relaxation. Tokyo leads by 45 points.45
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoTokyo
Daytime high20 °C30 °C
Night-time low1 °C23 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm157 mm
SunshineNo figure5 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea23 °C
Daylight11 hours a day14 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
Tokyo
10
11
14
19
24
26
30
32
28
22
17
12
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Tokyo
14
13
13
15
18
21
23
26
25
22
19
16
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Tokyo
60
57
117
134
140
168
157
155
221
237
97
58
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Tokyo
10
11
12
13
14
15
14
14
12
11
10
10
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Tokyo
6
6
6
6
6
4
5
6
4
4
5
6

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoTokyo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaJapanese
CurrencySol (PEN)Yen (JPY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+9
Emergency number111 or 911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation3,399 m6 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoTokyo
City population428,45014,264,798
People per km²-6,501
Museums within 10 km11191
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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