VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Istanbul or New Orleans?

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
  • shopping
  • beaches

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: Istanbul leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, New Orleans 84: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, New Orleans 67: Istanbul leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, New Orleans 42: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, New Orleans 52: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Istanbul and New Orleans are level on 55.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, New Orleans 55: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, New Orleans 54: Istanbul leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, New Orleans 40: Istanbul leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, New Orleans 25: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and New Orleans.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulNew Orleans
Official languageTurkish-
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m-2 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulNew Orleans
City population15,655,924383,997
People per km²2,930423
Museums within 10 km7316
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months7 months

Where else could you go?

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