Istanbul or Tokyo?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on beaches & swimming and value for money with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Istanbul leads by 22 points.22
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 21 |
| Swim season months | 3 | 4 |
| Beaches 10 km | 2 | 1 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 5 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | 5 km |
Places to eat. Tokyo leads by 20 points.20
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 90 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 2,086 | 6,936 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 25 |
Museums & heritage. Istanbul and Tokyo are level on 66.
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 66 | 66 |
| Museums within 10 km | 145 | 302 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 71 | 52 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 49 | 17 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
Nightlife. Tokyo leads by 16 points.16
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79 | 95 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 2,266 | 6,895 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 1,176 | 3,033 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 52 | 44 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 221 | 58 |
Nature & day trips. Tokyo leads by 33 points.33
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 25 | 58 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 1 | — |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 48 | 85 |
| Park area within 2 km | 60 hectares | 85 hectares |
Good for families. Tokyo leads by 4 points.4
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 71 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 68 | 40 |
| Park area within 2 km | 60 hectares | 85 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 9 |
Sights concentration. Istanbul leads by 15 points.15
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75 | 60 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 285 | 121 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Istanbul leads by 19 points.19
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 89 | 70 |
| Price level global | 35.2 | 62.4 |
| Daily budget | €100 | — |
Year-round weather. Istanbul leads by 5 points.5
| Istanbul | Tokyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 69 | 64 |
| Monthly daytime high | 9.2 °C to 29.7 °C | 10 °C to 31.5 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 23 mm to 101 mm | 57 mm to 237 mm |
| Dry months | 4 | 0 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Istanbul | Tokyo |
|---|---|---|
| SeoulICN, GMP | 10 h 0 m €533-647 IST · 36 km | 2 h 10 m €124-187 NRT · 56 km |
| ShanghaiPVG, SHA | 10 h 5 m no fares IST · 36 km | 2 h 45 m €296-314 HND · 18 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 3 h 35 m €110-186 IST · 36 km | 11 h 55 m €820-907 1 stop HND · 18 km |
| BangkokBKK, DMK | 9 h 30 m €507-517 1 stop IST · 36 km | 6 h 10 m €318-337 NRT · 56 km |
| Hong KongHKG | 10 h 5 m no fares IST · 36 km | 4 h 10 m €255-268 NRT · 56 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 3 h 15 m €141-223 IST · 36 km | 12 h 5 m €835-923 HND · 18 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 10 h 5 m €608-794 IST · 36 km | 13 h 30 m €813-1004 HND · 18 km |
| Los AngelesLAX, BUR, SNA, VNY | 13 h 35 m no fares IST · 36 km | 11 h 0 m €789-943 HND · 18 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 4 h 15 m €177-220 IST · 36 km | 10 h 0 m no fares HND · 18 km |
| Mexico CityMEX, NLU, TLC | 14 h 5 m no fares IST · 36 km | 13 h 55 m no fares NRT · 56 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Istanbul | Tokyo |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Turkish | Japanese |
| Currency | Turkish Lira (TRY) | Yen (JPY) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | AB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+3 | UTC+9 |
| Emergency number | 112 | Police 110, fire 119 |
| Elevation | 100 m | 6 m |
| Main airport | İstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre345 non-stop destinations | Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre97 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 14 days | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Istanbul | Tokyo |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 15,655,924 | 14,264,798 |
| People per km² | 2,930 | 6,501 |
| Museums within 10 km | 72 | 191 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 62 | 125 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 3 months | 4 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul or Tokyo somewhere new.