VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lima or Sofia?

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
  • beaches
  • shopping

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

Choose Sofia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Lima leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Sofia 45: Lima leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Sofia 60: Lima leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Sofia 50: Lima leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Sofia 40: Lima leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Sofia 38: Lima leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Sofia 50: Lima leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Sofia.

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 food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSofia

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). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSofia
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaBulgarian
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation154 m560 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSofia
City population9,943,8001,213,134
People per km²3,7212,466
Museums within 10 km4742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Sofia 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.