VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Istanbul or Kyoto?

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

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • shopping

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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, Kyoto 15: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Kyoto 85: Istanbul leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Kyoto 35: Istanbul leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Kyoto 72: Istanbul leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Kyoto 50: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Kyoto 60: Istanbul leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Kyoto 70: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Istanbul
67match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Kyoto
66match

Wins on day trips 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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulKyoto
Official languageTurkishJapanese
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation100 m51 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulKyoto
City population15,655,9241,463,723
People per km²2,9301,768
Museums within 10 km7377
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.