VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Lima for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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. Helsinki 28, Lima 42: Lima leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Lima 88: Lima leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Lima 66: Lima leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Lima 62: Lima leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Lima 45: Helsinki leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Lima 34: Helsinki leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Lima 42: Helsinki leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Lima 35: Helsinki leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Lima 52: Helsinki leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Lima 70: Lima leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Lima 53: Helsinki leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Lima 25: Helsinki leads by 57 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Lima.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiLima
Official languageFinnish, SwedishSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation17 m154 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiLima
City population694,3929,943,800
People per km²3,2393,721
Museums within 10 km7447
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Helsinki 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.