VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Izmir or Palermo?

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

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Palermo for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Palermo 80: Palermo leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Palermo 58: Izmir leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Palermo 72: Palermo leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Palermo 84: Izmir leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Palermo 44: Izmir leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Palermo 50: Izmir leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Palermo 44: Izmir leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Palermo 63: Izmir leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Palermo 62: Palermo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Palermo 30: Izmir leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Palermo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Izmir
62match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Palermo
62match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirPalermo

Where the figures come from

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirPalermo
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 m14 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirPalermo
City population4,493,242630,167
People per km²4,7603,924
Museums within 10 km2942
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Palermo 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.