VacationSelector
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Dubrovnik 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 Dubrovnik for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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. Dubrovnik 74, Istanbul 45: Dubrovnik leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Dubrovnik 47, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Dubrovnik 72, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Dubrovnik 37, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubrovnik 70, Istanbul 52: Dubrovnik leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Dubrovnik 66, Istanbul 55: Dubrovnik leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Dubrovnik 50, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Dubrovnik 60, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Dubrovnik 25, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 61 points.
Affordability. Dubrovnik 28, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubrovnik 25, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubrovnik 32, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubrovnik and Istanbul.

Your match

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

Dubrovnik
49match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubrovnikIstanbul

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubrovnikIstanbul
Official languageCroatianTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m100 m
Main airportDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubrovnikIstanbul
City population41,56215,655,924
People per km²-2,930
Museums within 10 km773
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubrovnik 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.