VacationSelector
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Genoa 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 Genoa for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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. Genoa 62, Istanbul 45: Genoa leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Genoa 72, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Genoa 76, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Genoa 42, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Genoa 78, Istanbul 52: Genoa leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Genoa 83, Istanbul 55: Genoa leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Genoa 64, Istanbul 55: Genoa leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Genoa 66, Istanbul 62: Genoa leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Genoa 48, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Genoa 55, Istanbul 60: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Genoa 52, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Genoa 35, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Genoa
61match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Genoa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GenoaIstanbul

Where the figures come from

Genoa 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.

Genoa's sunshine is measured 80 km from the centre, at Capo Mele.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenoaIstanbul
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
Elevation20 m100 m
Main airportGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenoaIstanbul
City population558,74515,655,924
People per km²2,3252,930
Museums within 10 km5173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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