VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Medellin?

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

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Medellin 58: Istanbul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Medellin 42: Istanbul leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Medellin 76: Istanbul leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Medellin 50: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Medellin 55: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Medellin 45: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Medellin 42: Istanbul leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Medellin 30: Istanbul leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Medellin.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

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

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin 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). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulMedellin
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation100 m1,405 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulMedellin
City population15,655,9242,529,403
People per km²2,9306,644
Museums within 10 km7314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Medellin 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.