VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Istanbul for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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. Hurghada 84, Istanbul 45: Hurghada leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Istanbul 87: Istanbul leads by 53 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Istanbul 90: Istanbul leads by 76 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Istanbul 77: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Istanbul 52: Hurghada leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Istanbul 55: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Istanbul 55: Hurghada leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Istanbul 86: Istanbul leads by 62 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Istanbul 60: Hurghada leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Istanbul 62: Istanbul leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Istanbul 75: Istanbul leads by 31 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaIstanbul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaIstanbul
Official languageArabicTurkish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180112
Elevation11 m100 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaIstanbul
City population214,24715,655,924
People per km²-2,930
Museums within 10 km173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hurghada 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.