Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Lima or Santa Fe?
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 Santa Fe for
- day trips
- nature and the outdoors
- wellness
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Santa Fe.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.
Wins on day trips 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
Santa Fe in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Santa Fe has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
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 Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Lima | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Aymara, Quechua | - |
| Currency | Sol (PEN) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | ABC220 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer |
| Emergency number | 111 or 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 154 m | 2,134 m |
| Main airport | Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations | Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 16 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Lima | Santa Fe |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 9,943,800 | 87,505 |
| People per km² | 3,721 | 645 |
| Museums within 10 km | 47 | 10 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 2 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima or Santa Fe somewhere new.