VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Tromso?

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
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Tromso 36: Istanbul leads by 51 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Tromso 27: Istanbul leads by 63 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Tromso 38: Istanbul leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Tromso 14: Istanbul leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Tromso 45: Istanbul leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Tromso 60: Istanbul leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Tromso 15: Istanbul leads by 71 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Tromso 11: Istanbul leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Tromso 32: Istanbul leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Tromso 38: Istanbul leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Tromso.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulTromso
Official languageTurkishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation100 m20 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulTromso
City population15,655,92479,943
People per km²2,93032
Museums within 10 km738
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Tromso 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.