Athens vs Istanbul for couples
Athens, in Greece, and Istanbul, in Türkiye, are about 560 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules. Athens leads on internet speed, getting by in English and residency rules; Istanbul on cost, tax and healthcare.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Istanbul is cheaper: we estimate about €2,624 a month for a couple living centrally, against €2,941 in Athens. That is €317 a month, or 11%, less.
Taxes
Istanbul has the lighter tax load: Türkiye is in our low to medium tax tier, Greece in our high tax tier.
Climate
Athens is 2°C warmer on average over the year: 18°C against 16°C in Istanbul. Athens is drier, with about 426 mm of rain a year against 675 mm in Istanbul (37% less).
Safety
Tied: Greece and Türkiye both score 60 out of 100 on safety.
Healthcare
Istanbul has the stronger healthcare: Türkiye scores 70 out of 100 on healthcare, 10 points above Greece (60).
Internet
Athens has faster home internet: about 60 Mbps median fixed download against about 50 Mbps in Istanbul.
Language
Main languages: Greek in Athens; Turkish in Istanbul. English goes further in Athens (some English) than in Istanbul (limited English).
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Greece (comparatively open) than in Türkiye (possible, with conditions). The cheapest self-funded income route we track starts at about $4,073 a month in Greece and $917 in Türkiye. For short visits, 93 of 198 passports can enter Greece visa-free and 95 can enter Türkiye.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts internet speed (60 Mbps against 50 Mbps), getting by in English (some English against limited English) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions) first, Athens comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€2,624 against €2,941 a month), tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and healthcare (70 against 60 out of 100), Istanbul does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Athens (18°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Istanbul (16°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Athens (426 mm a year against 675 mm).
Size differs too: Athens is a mid-sized city (250,000 to 1 million people) and Istanbul a major one (over 5 million people).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Athens, Istanbul and 913 other cities for both of you at once.