VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Antwerp or Istanbul?

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 Antwerp for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Istanbul’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. Antwerp 15, Istanbul 45: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Istanbul 52: Istanbul leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Istanbul 55: Antwerp leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Istanbul 55: Antwerp leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Istanbul 62: Antwerp leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 45 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antwerp and Istanbul.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Antwerp
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Antwerp in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpIstanbul

Where the figures come from

Antwerp has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Antwerp's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Uccle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpIstanbul
Official languageFrench, German, DutchTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m100 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpIstanbul
City population529,24715,655,924
People per km²2,5422,930
Museums within 10 km3873
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km91
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antwerp or Istanbul 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.