VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
Minato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock, Yokohama
YokohamaMinato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Yokohama by Yoshio Kohara, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Istanbul or Yokohama?

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
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Yokohama for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Yokohama’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, Yokohama 46: Yokohama leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Yokohama 72: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Yokohama 55: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Yokohama 44: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Yokohama 66: Yokohama leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Yokohama 87: Yokohama leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Yokohama 60: Istanbul leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Yokohama 55: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Yokohama 56: Istanbul leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Yokohama 60: Istanbul leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Yokohama.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Yokohama
64match

Wins on day trips 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

Yokohama in July

28 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
IstanbulYokohama

Where the figures come from

Yokohama's sunshine is measured 29 km from the centre, at Tokyo.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Yokohama: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Yokohama (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulYokohama
Official languageTurkishJapanese
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation100 m24 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulYokohama
City population15,655,9243,757,630
People per km²2,9308,585
Museums within 10 km7338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Yokohama 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.