VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Istanbul or Petra?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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, Petra 5: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Petra 22: Istanbul leads by 65 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Petra 85: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Petra 5: Istanbul leads by 72 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Petra 78: Petra leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Petra 30: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Petra 25: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Petra 25: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Petra 18: Istanbul leads by 68 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Petra 45: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Petra 10: Istanbul leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Petra 28: Istanbul leads by 47 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Petra
31match

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

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulPetra
Official languageTurkishArabic
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m850 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulPetra
City population15,655,924-
People per km²2,930-
Museums within 10 km732
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Petra 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.