VacationSelector

Bodrum or Varanasi?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

Bodrum Castle and gulets in the harbour, Bodrum
Bodrum

Photo: Serhio Magpie, CC BY 4.0, cropped

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Bodrum
✓ Best match
55
match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

BodrumVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Bodrum leads by 76 points.76
Food & drink. Bodrum leads by 5 points.5
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 35 points.35
Nightlife. Bodrum leads by 55 points.55
Nature & outdoors. Bodrum leads by 42 points.42
Day trips. Bodrum leads by 30 points.30
Good for families. Bodrum leads by 61 points.61
Getting around. Bodrum leads by 14 points.14
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 10 points.10
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 54 points.54
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 26 points.26
Wellness & relaxation. Bodrum leads by 22 points.22
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bodrum and Varanasi.

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyBodrumVaranasi
Daytime high31 °C35 °C
Night-time low23 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month0 mm249 mm
Sea temperature24 °CNo sea
Daylight14 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Bodrum
14
15
17
20
24
28
31
31
28
24
19
16
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Sea temperature, °C
Bodrum
17
16
16
17
19
22
24
25
24
22
20
19
Varanasi
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Bodrum
140
96
71
51
25
3
0
0
12
42
103
147
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Bodrum
10
11
12
13
14
15
14
14
13
11
10
10
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11

Where the figures come from

Bodrum's temperatures are measured 43 km from the centre, at Kos Airport.

Bodrum's rainfall is measured 87 km from the centre, at Samos Airport.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bodrum: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kos Airport (42.7 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureBodrumVaranasi
Official languageTurkishHindi, English
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation10 m76 m
Main airportMilas Bodrum International Airport (BJV)32 km from centre83 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBodrumVaranasi
City population175,0001,198,491
People per km²31414,598
Museums within 10 km42
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bodrum or Varanasi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.