VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
The beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier, Virginia Beach
Virginia BeachThe beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Virginia Beach by SchuminWeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Izmir or Virginia Beach?

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

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Virginia Beach for

  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Virginia Beach’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, Virginia Beach 77: Virginia Beach leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Virginia Beach 42: Izmir leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Virginia Beach 30: Izmir leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Virginia Beach 37: Izmir leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Virginia Beach 56: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Virginia Beach 64: Izmir leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Virginia Beach 75: Virginia Beach leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Virginia Beach 27: Izmir leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Virginia Beach 32: Izmir leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Virginia Beach 40: Izmir leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Virginia Beach 38: Izmir leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Virginia Beach 32: Izmir leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Virginia Beach.

Your match

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

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Virginia Beach
46match

Wins on families 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

Virginia Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
152 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirVirginia Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Virginia Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Virginia Beach / Gatewood Park (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirVirginia Beach
Official languageTurkish-
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation2 m7 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsNorfolk International Airport (ORF)20 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirVirginia Beach
City population4,493,242459,470
People per km²4,760-
Museums within 10 km292
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Izmir or Virginia Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.