VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Izmir for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

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. Cologne 14, Izmir 62: Izmir leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Izmir 55: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Izmir 60: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Izmir 55: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Izmir 63: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Izmir 55: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Izmir 48: Cologne leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Izmir.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CologneIzmir

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneIzmir
Official languageGermanTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m2 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneIzmir
City population1,025,5234,493,242
People per km²2,5324,760
Museums within 10 km4029
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne 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. 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.