VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Milan?

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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Milan for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Milan’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, Milan 20: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Milan 78: Istanbul leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Milan 78: Istanbul leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Milan 66: Istanbul leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Milan 65: Milan leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Milan 91: Milan leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Istanbul and Milan are level on 55.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Milan 79: Milan leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Milan 92: Milan leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Milan 33: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Milan 82: Milan leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Milan 42: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Milan.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Istanbul
67match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Milan
65match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts 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

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulMilan

Where the figures come from

Milan 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.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulMilan
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 m138 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulMilan
City population15,655,9241,354,196
People per km²2,9307,453
Museums within 10 km7388
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
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 Milan 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.