VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Istanbul or Johannesburg?

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 Istanbul for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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. Istanbul 45, Johannesburg 5: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Johannesburg 58: Istanbul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Johannesburg 56: Istanbul leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Johannesburg 62: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Johannesburg 52: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Johannesburg 42: Istanbul leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Johannesburg 18: Istanbul leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Johannesburg 58: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Johannesburg 55: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Johannesburg 28: Istanbul leads by 47 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulJohannesburg
Official languageTurkishEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m1,753 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulJohannesburg
City population15,655,9244,803,262
People per km²2,9302,922
Museums within 10 km7314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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