VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Avignon 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 Avignon for

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

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • 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. Avignon 22, Istanbul 45: Istanbul leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Istanbul 52: Avignon leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Istanbul 55: Avignon leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Avignon and Istanbul are level on 62.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Istanbul 62: Avignon leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Avignon
53match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonIstanbul

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonIstanbul
Official languageFrenchTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m100 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonIstanbul
City population92,18815,655,924
People per km²1,4202,930
Museums within 10 km1173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
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 Avignon 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.