VacationSelector
The harbour seen from above, Marmaris
MarmarisThe harbour seen from above
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Marmaris by Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Marmaris or Varanasi?

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 Marmaris for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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. Marmaris 80, Varanasi 4: Marmaris leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Marmaris 40, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Marmaris 18, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Marmaris 60, Varanasi 10: Marmaris leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marmaris 72, Varanasi 18: Marmaris leads by 54 points.
Day trips. Marmaris 65, Varanasi 42: Marmaris leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Marmaris 62, Varanasi 5: Marmaris leads by 57 points.
Getting around. Marmaris 55, Varanasi 28: Marmaris leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Marmaris 38, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Marmaris 62, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marmaris 12, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marmaris 50, Varanasi 30: Marmaris leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marmaris and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Marmaris
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Marmaris in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
8 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MarmarisVaranasi

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.

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. Marmaris: 2000-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dalaman (48.8 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMarmarisVaranasi
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
Elevation7 m76 m
Main airportDalaman International Airport (DLM)49 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMarmarisVaranasi
City population97,8181,198,491
People per km²11114,598
Museums within 10 km12
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marmaris 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. 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. 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.

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.