VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Charleston 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 Charleston for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • families

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

Choose Izmir for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Charleston 72, Izmir 62: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Charleston and Izmir are level on 72.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Izmir 55: Charleston leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Izmir 60: Izmir leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Izmir 55: Charleston leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Izmir 63: Izmir leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston and Izmir are level on 55.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Izmir 48: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Izmir.

Your match

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

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonIzmir

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonIzmir
Official language-Turkish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number911112
Elevation6 m2 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonIzmir
City population150,2274,493,242
People per km²5324,760
Museums within 10 km1929
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston or Izmir 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). 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. 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.