VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Quito?

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
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Istanbul leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Quito 54: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Quito 77: Istanbul leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Quito 40: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Quito 86: Quito leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Istanbul and Quito are level on 55.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Quito 32: Istanbul leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Quito 45: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Quito 40: Istanbul leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Quito 78: Quito leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Quito 38: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Quito 44: Istanbul leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Quito.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulQuito
Official languageTurkishSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m2,850 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulQuito
City population15,655,9241,763,275
People per km²2,9304,735
Museums within 10 km7316
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Quito 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.