VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Fishing boats in the harbour, La Spezia
La SpeziaFishing boats in the harbour

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; La Spezia by Irina Balashova, Pexels License.

Istanbul or La Spezia?

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

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose La Spezia for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on La Spezia’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, La Spezia 60: La Spezia leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, La Spezia 58: Istanbul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, La Spezia 40: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, La Spezia 28: Istanbul leads by 49 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, La Spezia 79: La Spezia leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, La Spezia 87: La Spezia leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, La Spezia 48: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, La Spezia 70: La Spezia leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, La Spezia 35: Istanbul leads by 51 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, La Spezia 50: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, La Spezia 28: Istanbul leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, La Spezia 32: Istanbul leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and La Spezia.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

La Spezia
51match

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

La Spezia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
20 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulLa Spezia

Where the figures come from

La Spezia's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

La Spezia 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. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). La Spezia: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (64.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulLa Spezia
Official languageTurkishItalian
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m3 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)65 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulLa Spezia
City population15,655,92492,119
People per km²2,9301,792
Museums within 10 km7312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul or La Spezia 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.