VacationSelector
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

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

Galway 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 Galway for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Izmir for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • day trips

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. Galway 28, Izmir 62: Izmir leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Galway 45, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Galway 33, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Galway 50, Izmir 60: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galway 78, Izmir 66: Galway leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Galway 56, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Galway 42, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Galway 58, Izmir 63: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Galway 38, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Galway 28, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galway 57, Izmir 48: Galway leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galway 28, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 29 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galway and Izmir.

Your match

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

Galway
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
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
GalwayIzmir

Where the figures come from

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalwayIzmir
Official languageEnglish, IrishTurkish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation25 m2 m
Main airportShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalwayIzmir
City population83,4564,493,242
People per km²1,5634,760
Museums within 10 km429
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galway 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.