VacationSelector
Florence and the Arno, Florence
FlorenceFlorence and the Arno
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Florence by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Florence 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 Florence for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • beaches

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. Florence 14, Istanbul 45: Istanbul leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Florence 74, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Florence 94, Istanbul 90: Florence leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Florence 42, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florence 58, Istanbul 52: Florence leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Florence 98, Istanbul 55: Florence leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Florence 45, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Florence 78, Istanbul 62: Florence leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Florence 72, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Florence 35, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florence 58, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florence 42, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florence and Istanbul.

Your match

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

Florence
59match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Florence in July

32 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
37 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FlorenceIstanbul

Where the figures come from

Florence 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.

Florence's sunshine is measured 71 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florence: 1995-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Firenze / Peretola (5.6 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorenceIstanbul
Official languageItalianTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation50 m100 m
Main airportFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)6 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureFlorenceIstanbul
City population360,93015,655,924
People per km²3,5282,930
Museums within 10 km14173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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