Weather in Cusco in October

A good month. October works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 18.4 °C, lows 6.7 °C, and rain falls on 11 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

October ranks 7 of 12 in Cusco: past the worst of the year but short of August, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 11 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. 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 October reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest October day reached 25.2 °C and the coldest night fell to 1.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 57 mm — roughly 90% of the month's rain in one day.

October is moderately variable: 13 mm in the driest year against 142 mm in the wettest, around an average of 63 mm. Roughly two Octobers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 7.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 74%.

How October sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 18.4 °C in September, 18.4 here, 18.4 in November. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 6 days more than September had.

Daylight in October

Cusco sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.4 hours in October, 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

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

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

October in Cusco versus nearby

If Cusco is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Arequipa is a better bet in October — 8.2 °C warmer, 10 days less rain. Lima is a better bet in October — 10.3 °C warmer, 11 days less rain.

So: October works, with August the better month by 17 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Cusco

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