VacationSelector

Izmir or Varanasi?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
Izmir

Photo: Toygar Par, Pexels License

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Izmir
✓ Best match
62
match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

IzmirVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Izmir leads by 58 points.58
Food & drink. Izmir leads by 17 points.17
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 25 points.25
Nightlife. Izmir leads by 50 points.50
Nature & outdoors. Izmir leads by 48 points.48
Day trips. Izmir leads by 44 points.44
Good for families. Izmir leads by 50 points.50
Getting around. Izmir leads by 35 points.35
Shopping & style. Izmir and Varanasi are level on 55.
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 26 points.26
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 10 points.10
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir leads by 27 points.27
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Varanasi.

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyIzmirVaranasi
Daytime high34 °C35 °C
Night-time low24 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month1 mm249 mm
Sunshine13 hours a dayNo figure
Sea temperature23 °CNo sea
Daylight15 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Izmir
13
14
17
21
27
31
34
34
29
24
19
14
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Sea temperature, °C
Izmir
16
16
16
17
19
22
23
24
23
21
19
17
Varanasi
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Izmir
119
107
77
51
33
13
1
4
22
55
96
127
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Izmir
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
11
10
10
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11
Sunshine, hours per day
Izmir
5
5
7
8
10
11
13
12
10
8
6
4
Varanasi
No sunshine record

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureIzmirVaranasi
Official languageTurkishHindi, English
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation2 m76 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirVaranasi
City population4,493,2421,198,491
People per km²4,76014,598
Museums within 10 km292
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.