VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

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

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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. Biarritz 68, Istanbul 45: Biarritz leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Istanbul 52: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Istanbul 55: Biarritz leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Istanbul 55: Biarritz leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 11 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Biarritz
54match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzIstanbul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzIstanbul
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
Elevation0 m100 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzIstanbul
City population26,20615,655,924
People per km²2,2402,930
Museums within 10 km873
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.