VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cusco or Wilmington?

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 Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Wilmington 48: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Wilmington 40: Cusco leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Wilmington 40: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Wilmington 58: Cusco leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Wilmington 45: Cusco leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Wilmington 28: Cusco leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Wilmington 33: Cusco leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Wilmington 42: Cusco leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco and Wilmington are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Wilmington.

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.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoWilmington
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation3,399 m9 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoWilmington
City population428,450115,451
People per km²-839
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cusco or Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.