Weather in Cusco in August

Prime time. August is about as good as Cusco gets. Highs average 18.2 °C, lows 5.4 °C, and rain falls on 2 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

August is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is June, and the month at the other end of the year is February.

Rain falls on only 2 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average August reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 23.4 °C and the coldest night fell to -0.6 °C.

This is the volatile part. August rainfall has ranged from 0 mm to 28 mm across the twenty years measured — a 28 mm spread around an average of 8 mm. The average is real but almost no individual August looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 7.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 72%.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 17.3 °C in July, 18.2 here, 18.4 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

Cusco sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.6 hours in August, against a range of just 1.6 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 13.5 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 3312 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, April is the trade worth considering — 14 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in Cusco versus nearby

If Cusco is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Arequipa is a better bet in August — 7.1 °C warmer, 2 days less rain. Lima is close enough to be a coin toss — 10.4 °C warmer, 2 days less rain.

So: August is the answer for Cusco. If it is booked out or priced out, June is the next best thing at 2 points behind, and February is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Cusco

See all twelve months in Cusco, or where else to go in August.