VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Izmir or Kyoto?

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 Izmir for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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. Izmir 62, Kyoto 15: Izmir leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Kyoto 35: Izmir leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Kyoto 50: Izmir leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Kyoto 60: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Izmir
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Izmir in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirKyoto
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
Elevation2 m51 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirKyoto
City population4,493,2421,463,723
People per km²4,7601,768
Museums within 10 km2977
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Izmir or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.