VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Santiago?

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

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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, Santiago 12: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Santiago 60: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Santiago 52: Istanbul leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Santiago 60: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Santiago 52: Istanbul leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Santiago 58: Istanbul leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Santiago 55: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Santiago 37: Istanbul leads by 38 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSantiago
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation100 m575 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSantiago
City population15,655,9246,257,516
People per km²2,9307,468
Museums within 10 km7354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Santiago 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.