VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Mazatlan?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Mazatlan 62: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Mazatlan 42: Istanbul leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Mazatlan 55: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Mazatlan 66: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Mazatlan 45: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Mazatlan 42: Istanbul leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Mazatlan 30: Istanbul leads by 56 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Mazatlan 40: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Mazatlan 35: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Mazatlan.

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.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on beaches 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

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulMazatlan
Official languageTurkishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m139 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulMazatlan
City population15,655,924441,975
People per km²2,930-
Museums within 10 km733
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul or Mazatlan 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.