VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The minaret and dome of the Zitouna Mosque, Tunis
TunisThe minaret and dome of the Zitouna Mosque

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

Istanbul or Tunis?

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

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tunis for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tunis’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, Tunis 60: Tunis leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Tunis 60: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Tunis 76: Istanbul leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Tunis 33: Istanbul leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Tunis 45: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Tunis 77: Tunis leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Tunis 38: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Tunis 48: Istanbul leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Tunis 50: Istanbul leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Tunis 86: Tunis leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Tunis 38: Istanbul leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Tunis 58: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Tunis
56match

Wins on prices 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

Tunis in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulTunis

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Tunis: 1991-2020 normals, Tunis-Carthage (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulTunis
Official languageTurkishArabic
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Tunisian Dinar (TND)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1
Emergency number112Police 197, ambulance 190, fire 198
Elevation100 m4 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsTunis Carthage International Airport (TUN)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulTunis
City population15,655,924602,560
People per km²2,9302,834
Museums within 10 km7316
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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