VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lima or Santiago de Compostela?

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

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Lima leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Santiago de Compostela 68: Lima leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Santiago de Compostela 45: Lima leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Santiago de Compostela 72: Santiago de Compostela leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Lima and Santiago de Compostela are level on 42.
Getting around. Lima 35, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Santiago de Compostela 35: Lima leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Santiago de Compostela 64: Lima leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Santiago de Compostela 40: Lima leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSantiago de Compostela

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). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSantiago de Compostela
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation154 m260 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSantiago de Compostela
City population9,943,800100,965
People per km²3,721459
Museums within 10 km476
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Santiago de Compostela 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.