VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lima or Montevideo?

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

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Montevideo 57: Lima leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Montevideo 54: Lima leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Montevideo 50: Lima leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Montevideo 34: Lima leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Montevideo 36: Lima leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Montevideo 42: Lima leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Montevideo 38: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Montevideo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LimaMontevideo

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). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaMontevideo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation154 m41 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaMontevideo
City population9,943,8001,302,954
People per km²3,7211,785
Museums within 10 km4736
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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