VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lima or Sao Paulo?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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 and Sao Paulo are level on 42.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Sao Paulo 84: Lima leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Sao Paulo 60: Lima leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Sao Paulo 48: Sao Paulo leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Sao Paulo 62: Lima leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima and Sao Paulo are level on 25.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSao Paulo
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPortuguese
CurrencySol (PEN)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number111 or 911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation154 m760 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSao Paulo
City population9,943,80011,451,999
People per km²3,7217,519
Museums within 10 km4790
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 Sao Paulo 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.