VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lima or San Diego?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Diego for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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, San Diego 72: San Diego leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, San Diego 62: Lima leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, San Diego 50: Lima leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, San Diego 48: Lima leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, San Diego 77: San Diego leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, San Diego 60: San Diego leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 54 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, San Diego 38: San Diego leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, San Diego 44: Lima leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, San Diego 26: Lima leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, San Diego 56: San Diego leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, San Diego 45: San Diego leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and San Diego.

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.

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSan Diego

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). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSan Diego
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 m129 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSan Diego
City population9,943,8001,386,932
People per km²3,7211,438
Museums within 10 km4726
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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