VacationSelector
Hot-air balloons over Cappadocia at sunrise, Goreme
GoremeHot-air balloons over Cappadocia at sunrise
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Goreme by Guerrero De la Luz, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Goreme or Petra?

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 Goreme for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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. Goreme 3, Petra 5: Petra leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Goreme 20, Petra 22: Petra leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Goreme 45, Petra 85: Petra leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Goreme and Petra are level on 5.
Nature & outdoors. Goreme 74, Petra 78: Petra leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Goreme 70, Petra 30: Goreme leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Goreme 40, Petra 25: Goreme leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Goreme 40, Petra 25: Goreme leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Goreme 22, Petra 18: Goreme leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Goreme 58, Petra 45: Goreme leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Goreme and Petra are level on 10.
Wellness & relaxation. Goreme 42, Petra 28: Goreme leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Goreme
Best match
36match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Goreme in July

30 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
GoremePetra

Where the figures come from

Goreme's station stands 160 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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. Goreme: 1991-2020 normals, Nevsehir (10.2 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGoremePetra
Official languageTurkishArabic
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,100 m850 m
Main airportKayseri Erkilet International Airport (ASR)60 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGoremePetra
City population2,000-
People per km²20-
Museums within 10 km52
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Goreme or Petra 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). 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.