Cusco Weather - Plan your tour before you reach Cusco

Cusco : ● Cusco InformationGetting thereFlights Cusco Attractions Hotels Restaurants

Cusco FestivalsCusco ChurchesSan BlasBoleto

Other Destinations : LimaCusco Machu PicchuArequipaPunoIquitosNazca Lake Titicaca

Inca Trail :   ● Inca trail 4 Days Trail 2 Days Trail Salkantay Trail Sketch Trail Availability Trail Expense

Machu Picchu : Information How to get there Hotels Restaurants Ruins detail  

 

Cusco is famous not only for its ruins, also for its people and their customs.
 

Cusco Tourists Tickets -Boleto

Boleto (Boleto Turístico General, or BTG) is the admission tickets to some sites in around Cusco. If  included sites matches with your plan, it is wise to purchase the Cusco Tourist Ticket.

 

Are They

Alpaca ?

 

In the street stalls they sell Alpaca sweaters, which are always made of baby Alpaca. But in almost all cases they are not baby Alpaca, even not Alpaca. Mostly they are made of Polyesters or acrylic. Alpaca sweaters should cost you at least 40/50 $. If you bargain with the price and be able to bring the cost down to as low as 20/25 $, then it is not Alpaca.

 More on Shopping Inca Clothing.

 

 

If you are coming from northern hemisphere (North America, Europe, Asia) don't forget weather is opposite here. So summer time in USA is actually winter in Peru.

 

 

 

 

 

If you are at this page to plan your tour, I would like you to consider two main issues, rain and temperature. Since temperature is not a  major issue in Cusco, most of the people visit there considering how wet the season is. If you think about rainfall weather of Cusco can be divided into two particular seasons, the dry season and the wet season. The dry season accounts for May to September, while the wet season consists of the rest of the year (Oct-April).

 

The wet season-  The wet season includes the months September to May. It rains throughout these seven months with an average rainfall of 152mm. Though it rains throughout the season, the middle portion of the season is considered to be comparatively damper.

 

The dry season- The dry season gets introduce in June and lasts till August. It is the best time to visit Cusco as you will experience only a minute rainfall (5-10mm), and the temperature is not even high. The average temperature stays around 16 degree Celsius.

                       

If you look at the table below ( both are same, one provides information in Celsius and millimetre unit and the other being in Fahrenheit and inch unit.), you can see December, January and February are really wet. In January number of wet days is 16, while 14 days in december and 12 days in February are wet. That is why most of the visitors try to avoid these three months to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu.

 

Average monthly Temperature and rainfall in Cusco

(Temperature in Celsius and Rainfall in mm)

Month Temp (Min) (OC) Temp (Max) (OC) Rainfall (mm)
Jan 7 20 163
Feb 7 21 150
March 7 21 109
April 4 22 51
May 2 21 15
June 1 21 5
July -1 21 5
Aug 1 21 10
Sept 4 22 25
Oct 6 22 66
Nov 6 23 76
Dec 7 22 137

 

(Temperature in Fahrenheit and Rainfall in inch)

Month Temp (Min) (OC) Temp (Max) (OC) Rainfall (mm)
Jan 45 68 6.4
Feb 45 70 5.9
March 45 70 4.3
April 39 72 2.0
May 36 70 0.6
June 34 70 0.2
July 30 70 0.2
Aug 34 70 0.4
Sept 39 72 1.0
Oct 43 72 2.6
Nov 43 73 3.0
Dec 45 72 5.4

 

 

 

Now let's discuss a bit about temperature. Daytime temperature does not fluctuate much in different months in Cusco. The average year round temperature is only 68°F or 20°C during daytime. But in winter season ( from April to August) temperature drop to low thirties (in °F) (2-7 °C) during nighttimes. But in very few cases they drop below freezing.

I hope by this time you got idea that winter season is dry here, and summer comes with lots of rain. Heavy rainfall in late January or February is sometime frightening here. Since winter is not a big threat here, most visitors choose winter/dry season instead of summer/wet season.

 

Cusco mudslide last year ( Jan-2010)

 

Though this city is very calm and quiet, it gets very crowded during June and July due to presence of the tourists. So if you want to enjoy the city in a calm and quiet way, it is suggested that you come on around May or August.

 

 

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.