VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
Fishing boats in the harbour, La Spezia
La SpeziaFishing boats in the harbour

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; La Spezia by Irina Balashova, Pexels License.

Izmir or La Spezia?

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

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose La Spezia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on La Spezia’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, La Spezia 60: Izmir leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, La Spezia 58: Izmir leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, La Spezia 40: Izmir leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, La Spezia 28: Izmir leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, La Spezia 79: La Spezia leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, La Spezia 87: La Spezia leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, La Spezia 48: Izmir leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, La Spezia 70: La Spezia leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, La Spezia 35: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, La Spezia 50: Izmir leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, La Spezia 28: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, La Spezia 32: Izmir leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and La Spezia.

Your match

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

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

La Spezia
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

La Spezia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
20 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirLa Spezia

Where the figures come from

La Spezia's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Pisa / S. Giusto.

La Spezia has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). La Spezia: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (64.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirLa Spezia
Official languageTurkishItalian
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation2 m3 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)65 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirLa Spezia
City population4,493,24292,119
People per km²4,7601,792
Museums within 10 km2912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Izmir or La Spezia 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.