VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Los Angeles?

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

  • getting around
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Los Angeles 84: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Los Angeles 66: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Los Angeles 67: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Los Angeles 25: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Los Angeles 80: Istanbul leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Los Angeles 24: Istanbul leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Los Angeles 60: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on families 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulLos Angeles
Official languageTurkish-
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m106 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulLos Angeles
City population15,655,9243,898,747
People per km²2,9302,994
Museums within 10 km7339
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul or Los Angeles 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.