VacationSelector
The old town on the Neckar, Heidelberg
HeidelbergThe old town on the Neckar
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Heidelberg by Kuanling Chen, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Heidelberg or Lima?

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 Heidelberg for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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. Heidelberg 7, Lima 42: Lima leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Heidelberg 40, Lima 88: Lima leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. Heidelberg 58, Lima 66: Lima leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Heidelberg 38, Lima 62: Lima leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Heidelberg 60, Lima 45: Heidelberg leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Heidelberg 78, Lima 34: Heidelberg leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Heidelberg 62, Lima 42: Heidelberg leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Heidelberg 72, Lima 35: Heidelberg leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Heidelberg 40, Lima 52: Lima leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Heidelberg 42, Lima 70: Lima leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Heidelberg 48, Lima 53: Lima leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Heidelberg 44, Lima 25: Heidelberg leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Heidelberg and Lima.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Heidelberg
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Heidelberg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HeidelbergLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Heidelberg: 1991-2020 normals, Heidelberg (4.5 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHeidelbergLima
Official languageGermanSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation114 m154 m
Main airportFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)69 km from centre281 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureHeidelbergLima
City population156,0929,943,800
People per km²1,4333,721
Museums within 10 km1747
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Heidelberg or Lima 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.