VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Lima or Merida?

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 Lima for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Merida for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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. Lima 42, Merida 50: Merida leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Merida 72: Lima leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Merida 64: Lima leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Merida 42: Lima leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Merida 48: Merida leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Merida 80: Merida leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Merida 50: Merida leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Merida 45: Merida leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Merida 50: Lima leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Merida 75: Merida leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Merida 52: Lima leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Merida 40: Merida leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Merida.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Merida
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
LimaMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaMerida
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencySol (PEN)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-6
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation154 m12 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaMerida
City population9,943,800892,363
People per km²3,7211,010
Museums within 10 km475
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima or Merida 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). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.