VacationSelector

Cusco or Ubud?

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

Rice terraces and palms at Tegallalang, Ubud
Ubud

Photo: Pinterpandai, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
49
match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Ubud
✓ Best match
54
match

Wins on wellness 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.

CuscoUbud
Beaches & swimming. Ubud leads by 37 points.37
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 1 points.1
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 23 points.23
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 28 points.28
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 10 points.10
Day trips. Cusco leads by 10 points.10
Good for families. Ubud leads by 34 points.34
Getting around. Cusco leads by 38 points.38
Shopping & style. Cusco leads by 2 points.2
Affordability. Ubud leads by 9 points.9
Live music & performing arts. Ubud leads by 25 points.25
Wellness & relaxation. Ubud leads by 63 points.63
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoUbud
Daytime high20 °C29 °C
Night-time low1 °C24 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm27 mm
SunshineNo figure9 hours a day
Sea temperatureNo sea27 °C
Daylight11 hours a day12 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
Ubud
31
31
31
31
31
30
29
29
30
31
32
31
Sea temperature, °C
Cusco
No coastline within reach
Ubud
29
29
29
29
28
28
27
26
27
27
28
29
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Ubud
396
289
222
125
76
38
27
12
30
74
132
295
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Ubud
13
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
13
13
Sunshine, hours per day
Cusco
No sunshine record
Ubud
7
6
7
8
9
8
9
9
9
9
8
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.

Ubud's temperatures are measured 29 km from the centre, at Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai.

Ubud's station stands 209 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). Ubud: 1991-2020 normals, Denpasar / Ngurah-Rai (29 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoUbud
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaIndonesian
CurrencySol (PEN)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m210 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsDenpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)29 km from centre63 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoUbud
City population428,450-
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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