VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Gdansk 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 Gdansk for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Izmir for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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. Gdansk 40, Izmir 62: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Izmir 55: Gdansk leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Izmir 60: Izmir leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Izmir 55: Gdansk leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Izmir 63: Gdansk leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Izmir 66: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Izmir 48: Gdansk leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Izmir.

Your match

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

Gdansk
55match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips 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.

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 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
GdanskIzmir

Where the figures come from

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskIzmir
Official languagePolishTurkish
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation11 m2 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskIzmir
City population487,8344,493,242
People per km²7144,760
Museums within 10 km3429
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Gdansk 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). 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. 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.