VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Lima or Philadelphia?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Lima leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Philadelphia 62: Lima leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Philadelphia 55: Lima leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Philadelphia 52: Philadelphia leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Philadelphia 40: Lima leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Philadelphia 26: Philadelphia leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LimaPhiladelphia

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). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaPhiladelphia
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
Elevation154 m12 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaPhiladelphia
City population9,943,8001,603,797
People per km²3,7214,339
Museums within 10 km4754
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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