VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Montevideo?

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
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Montevideo 57: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Montevideo 54: Istanbul leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Montevideo 50: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Montevideo 34: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Istanbul and Montevideo are level on 55.
Good for families. Istanbul and Montevideo are level on 55.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Montevideo 54: Istanbul leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Montevideo 36: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Montevideo 42: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Montevideo 57: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Montevideo 38: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
0255075100

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

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 wellness with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulMontevideo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulMontevideo
Official languageTurkish-
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m41 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulMontevideo
City population15,655,9241,302,954
People per km²2,9301,785
Museums within 10 km7336
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Montevideo 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.