VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • wellness

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. Austin 30, Istanbul 45: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Istanbul 52: Austin leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Istanbul 55: Austin leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Austin and Istanbul are level on 55.
Getting around. Austin 30, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Istanbul 62: Austin leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Istanbul.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinIstanbul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinIstanbul
Official language-Turkish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m100 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinIstanbul
City population961,85515,655,924
People per km²1,2172,930
Museums within 10 km2173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Austin 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.

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.