VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

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

Lima or Portland?

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
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Lima leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Portland 68: Lima leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Portland 38: Lima leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Portland 52: Lima leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Portland 84: Portland leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Portland 58: Portland leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Portland 55: Portland leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Portland 62: Portland leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Lima and Portland are level on 52.
Affordability. Lima 70, Portland 38: Lima leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Portland 55: Portland leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Portland 42: Portland leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Portland.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LimaPortland

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). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaPortland
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation154 m152 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaPortland
City population9,943,800652,503
People per km²3,7211,736
Museums within 10 km4717
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Portland 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.