VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The County Courthouse and its garden, Santa Barbara
Santa BarbaraThe County Courthouse and its garden

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Barbara by Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lima or Santa Barbara?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Barbara for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Barbara’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, Santa Barbara 60: Santa Barbara leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Santa Barbara 62: Lima leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Santa Barbara 48: Lima leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Santa Barbara 34: Lima leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Santa Barbara 80: Santa Barbara leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Santa Barbara 55: Santa Barbara leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Santa Barbara 64: Santa Barbara leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Santa Barbara 46: Santa Barbara leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Santa Barbara 45: Lima leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Santa Barbara 15: Lima leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Santa Barbara 50: Lima leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Santa Barbara 50: Santa Barbara leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Santa Barbara.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Barbara
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Santa Barbara in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSanta Barbara

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). Santa Barbara: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Barbara / La Patera (11.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSanta Barbara
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 m15 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSanta Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)12 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSanta Barbara
City population9,943,80088,665
People per km²3,721816
Museums within 10 km4710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima or Santa Barbara 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.