VacationSelector

Cusco or Varanasi?

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

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Cusco
✓ Best match
49
match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on live music and the arts and prices 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.

CuscoVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Varanasi leads by 1 points.1
Food & drink. Cusco leads by 1 points.1
Culture & sights. Cusco leads by 1 points.1
Nightlife. Cusco leads by 32 points.32
Nature & outdoors. Cusco leads by 68 points.68
Day trips. Cusco leads by 36 points.36
Good for families. Cusco leads by 5 points.5
Getting around. Cusco leads by 20 points.20
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 3 points.3
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 19 points.19
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 28 points.28
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco leads by 3 points.3
0255075100

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

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
JulyCuscoVaranasi
Daytime high20 °C35 °C
Night-time low1 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month5 mm249 mm
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
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Rainfall, mm
Cusco
159
133
106
36
7
3
5
6
17
50
78
127
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Cusco
13
13
12
12
12
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11

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.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureCuscoVaranasi
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaHindi, English
CurrencySol (PEN)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5:30
Emergency number111 or 911108 or 112
Elevation3,399 m76 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoVaranasi
City population428,4501,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.