VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Savannah?

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
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Savannah for

  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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, Savannah 55: Savannah leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Savannah 58: Istanbul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Savannah 68: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Savannah 52: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Savannah 48: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Savannah 50: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Savannah 58: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Savannah 42: Istanbul leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Savannah 35: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Savannah 40: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Savannah 40: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Savannah.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Savannah
51match

Wins on beaches 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

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulSavannah

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

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSavannah
Official languageTurkish-
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation100 m15 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSavannah
City population15,655,924147,780
People per km²2,930524
Museums within 10 km7319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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