VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Istanbul or Valencia?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Valencia for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Valencia 74: Istanbul leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Valencia 68: Istanbul leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Valencia 66: Istanbul leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Valencia 57: Istanbul leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Valencia 57: Istanbul leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Valencia 55: Istanbul leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Valencia 42: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Istanbul
67match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Valencia
65match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulValencia
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m15 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulValencia
City population15,655,924840,792
People per km²2,9306,242
Museums within 10 km7345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Valencia 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.