VacationSelector
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade

Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License.

Gold Coast 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 Gold Coast for

  • families
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Izmir for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • prices

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. Gold Coast 92, Izmir 62: Gold Coast leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Gold Coast 47, Izmir 72: Izmir leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Gold Coast 15, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Gold Coast 55, Izmir 60: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gold Coast 82, Izmir 66: Gold Coast leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Gold Coast 52, Izmir 86: Izmir leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Gold Coast 89, Izmir 55: Gold Coast leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Gold Coast 45, Izmir 63: Izmir leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Gold Coast 40, Izmir 55: Izmir leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Gold Coast 35, Izmir 66: Izmir leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gold Coast 30, Izmir 48: Izmir leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gold Coast 42, Izmir 57: Izmir leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Izmir.

Your match

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

Gold Coast
52match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Gold Coast in July

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gold CoastIzmir

Where the figures come from

Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGold CoastIzmir
Official languageEnglishTurkish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+3
Emergency number000112
Elevation12 m2 m
Main airportGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGold CoastIzmir
City population607,6654,493,242
People per km²4334,760
Museums within 10 km229
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gold Coast 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.