VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Istanbul or Wellington?

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

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Istanbul leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Wellington 62: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Wellington 44: Istanbul leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Wellington 45: Istanbul leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Wellington 40: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Wellington 42: Istanbul leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Wellington 33: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Wellington 56: Istanbul leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Wellington 30: Istanbul leads by 45 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulWellington
Official languageTurkishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation100 m0 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulWellington
City population15,655,924216,200
People per km²2,930487
Museums within 10 km7312
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 Wellington 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.