VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Cusco or Wellington?

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

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Wellington for

  • families
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Wellington 44: Cusco leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Wellington 78: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Wellington 40: Cusco leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Wellington 42: Cusco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Wellington 33: Cusco leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Wellington 30: Cusco leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Wellington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Cusco
49match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on families and beaches 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
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoWellington

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.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoWellington
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencySol (PEN)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911111
Elevation3,399 m0 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoWellington
City population428,450216,200
People per km²-487
Museums within 10 km1112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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

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.