VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Sao Paulo?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Sao Paulo 84: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Sao Paulo 60: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Sao Paulo 48: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Sao Paulo 47: Istanbul leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Sao Paulo 52: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Sao Paulo 44: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Sao Paulo 70: Istanbul leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Sao Paulo 25: Istanbul leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Sao Paulo.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSao Paulo
Official languageTurkishPortuguese
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation100 m760 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSao Paulo
City population15,655,92411,451,999
People per km²2,9307,519
Museums within 10 km7390
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 Sao Paulo 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.