VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Izmir or Riga?

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
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Riga for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Riga 52: Izmir leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Riga 66: Riga leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Riga 52: Izmir leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Riga 55: Izmir leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Riga 60: Izmir leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Riga 50: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Riga 68: Riga leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Riga 45: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Riga 62: Izmir leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Riga 65: Riga leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Riga 50: Izmir leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Riga.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirRiga
Official languageTurkishLatvian
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirRiga
City population4,493,242588,911
People per km²4,760-
Museums within 10 km2912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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