VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
La Major cathedral from the harbour, Marseille
MarseilleLa Major cathedral from the harbour

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Marseille by Charlotte Noblet, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Izmir or Marseille?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Marseille for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Marseille’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, Marseille 72: Marseille leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Marseille 67: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Marseille 63: Marseille leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Marseille 57: Izmir leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Marseille 83: Marseille leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Izmir and Marseille are level on 86.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Marseille 50: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Marseille 57: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Marseille 47: Izmir leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Marseille 45: Izmir leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Marseille 56: Marseille leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Marseille 37: Izmir leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Marseille.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Izmir
62match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Marseille
60match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Marseille in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirMarseille

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Marseille: 1991-2020 normals, Marseille / Marignane (20.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirMarseille
Official languageTurkishFrench
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation2 m0 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)21 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirMarseille
City population4,493,242886,040
People per km²4,7603,683
Museums within 10 km2927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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