VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The harbour seen from above, Marmaris
MarmarisThe harbour seen from above

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Marmaris by Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Marmaris?

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 Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Marmaris for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Marmaris’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. Kathmandu 4, Marmaris 80: Marmaris leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Marmaris 40: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Marmaris 18: Kathmandu leads by 64 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Marmaris 60: Marmaris leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Marmaris 72: Marmaris leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Marmaris 65: Marmaris leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Marmaris 62: Marmaris leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Marmaris 55: Marmaris leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Marmaris 38: Kathmandu leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Marmaris 62: Kathmandu leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Marmaris 12: Kathmandu leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Marmaris 50: Marmaris leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Marmaris.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Marmaris
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Marmaris in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
8 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduMarmaris

Where the figures come from

Marmaris's temperatures are measured 49 km from the centre, at Dalaman.

Marmaris 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Marmaris: 2000-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dalaman (48.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduMarmaris
Official languageNepaliTurkish
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101112
Elevation1,300 m7 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsDalaman International Airport (DLM)49 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduMarmaris
City population845,76797,818
People per km²17,121111
Museums within 10 km91
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kathmandu or Marmaris 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.