VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0.

Izmir or Phuket?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Phuket for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Phuket’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, Phuket 90: Phuket leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Phuket 66: Izmir leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Phuket 35: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Phuket 72: Phuket leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Phuket 80: Phuket leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Phuket 45: Izmir leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Phuket 65: Phuket leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Phuket 22: Izmir leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Phuket 42: Izmir leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Phuket 68: Phuket leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Phuket 20: Izmir leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Phuket 82: Phuket leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Phuket.

Your match

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

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Phuket
57match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirPhuket

Where the figures come from

Phuket's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirPhuket
Official languageTurkishThai
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation2 m19 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirPhuket
City population4,493,24277,610
People per km²4,7606,468
Museums within 10 km292
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Izmir or Phuket 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.