VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Lima or Seattle?

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 Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Lima leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Seattle 66: Lima leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Seattle 50: Lima leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Seattle 55: Lima leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Lima and Seattle are level on 52.
Affordability. Lima 70, Seattle 22: Lima leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Seattle.

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.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSeattle
City population9,943,800737,015
People per km²3,7211,996
Museums within 10 km4727
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 Seattle 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.