VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Panama City?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Istanbul leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Panama City 57: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Panama City 62: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Panama City 62: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Panama City 50: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Panama City 45: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Panama City 40: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Panama City 52: Istanbul leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Panama City 55: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Panama City 34: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Panama City 22: Istanbul leads by 53 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Panama City.

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.

Panama City
50match

Wins on 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulPanama City
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m20 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulPanama City
City population15,655,9241,540,000
People per km²2,9305,600
Museums within 10 km7310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Panama City 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.