VacationSelector
The coastline of the Hotel Zone, Cancun
CancunThe coastline of the Hotel Zone
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Cancun by Tellez Erik, Pexels License; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Cancun or Izmir?

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 Cancun for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Izmir for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Izmir’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. Cancun 98, Izmir 62: Cancun leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Cancun 44, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cancun 15, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Cancun 70, Izmir 60: Cancun leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cancun and Izmir are level on 66.
Day trips. Cancun 65, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Cancun 78, Izmir 55: Cancun leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Cancun 25, Izmir 63: Izmir leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Cancun 40, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cancun 46, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cancun 17, Izmir 48: Izmir leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cancun 55, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cancun and Izmir.

Your match

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

Cancun
52match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cancun in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Izmir in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CancunIzmir

Where the figures come from

Cancun 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. Cancun: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCancunIzmir
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaTurkish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number911112
Elevation5 m2 m
Main airportCancún International Airport (CUN)14 km from centre137 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCancunIzmir
City population888,7974,493,242
People per km²-4,760
Museums within 10 km129
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.