VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Riga?

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
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Riga for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Riga 52: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Riga 66: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Riga 52: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Riga 55: Riga leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Riga 60: Riga leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Riga 50: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Riga 68: Riga leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Riga 45: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Riga 62: Riga leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Riga 65: Riga leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Riga 50: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulRiga
Official languageTurkishLatvian
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m6 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulRiga
City population15,655,924588,911
People per km²2,930-
Museums within 10 km7312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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