Cyprus or Türkiye? When each is busy and when it is quiet

TL;DR

In 2025, Cyprus's busiest month was August (15.5% of its tourist nights) and Türkiye's was August (15.1%). The quietest were January (1.6%) and February (3.2%). Cyprus's two busiest months carried 29.6% of its year, against 29.2% for Türkiye, so Cyprus's year was more concentrated.

Cyprus and Türkiye, month by month

Each chart shows what share of the place's 2025 tourist nights fell in each month, on the same scale; the two busiest months are highlighted.1

Cyprus

JFMAMJJA15.5%SOND

Türkiye

JFMAMJJA15.1%SOND

Share of the year, every month

Cyprus had the smaller share of its own year in five months (January, February, September, November and December), and Türkiye in seven. A smaller share means a quieter month for that country, not fewer visitors than the other.1

Cyprus and Türkiye: share of 2025 tourist nights by month
MonthCyprusTürkiye
January1.6%3.6%
February2.0%3.2%
March3.4%3.2%
April7.7%6.4%
May10.2%8.7%
June12.4%10.0%
July14.2%14.0%
August15.5%15.1%
September12.9%13.0%
October12.8%11.7%
November4.9%6.1%
December2.5%4.9%

The key facts side by side

Cyprus and Türkiye: key facts
CyprusTürkiye
Busiest monthAugust, 15.5%August, 15.1%
Quietest monthJanuary, 1.6%February, 3.2%
Two busiest months29.6% of the year29.2% of the year
Busiest vs quietest9.8 times as busy4.7 times as busy
From abroadIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 92.8% of Cyprus's tourist nights. Source pageIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 61.3% of Türkiye's tourist nights. Source page
Length of stayGuests stayed an average of 4.7 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Cyprus in 2025. Source pageGuests stayed an average of 2.5 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Türkiye in 2025. Source page
How seasonalJuly and August together carried 29.6% of the year, making Cyprus the fifteenth most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source pageJuly and August together carried 29.2% of the year, making Türkiye the sixteenth most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source page
Public holidaysIn Cyprus, bank holidays fall on 13 days in 2026. Source pageIn Türkiye, public holidays fall on 8 days in both 2026 and 2027. Source page

Each sentence is copied from the page it links to, where its source is cited.

Weather: Nicosia and Ankara

Averages for 1991–2020 at the weather station each page uses: AthalassaRadiosonde for Nicosia and Ankara Bolge for Ankara.2

Average high and rain by month, Nicosia and Ankara, 1991 to 2020
MonthHigh, NicosiaHigh, AnkaraRain, NicosiaRain, Ankara
January15.8 °C4.7 °C53 mm39 mm
February16.6 °C7.4 °C42 mm37 mm
March20.0 °C12.2 °C29 mm47 mm
April24.7 °C17.5 °C21 mm45 mm
May29.8 °C22.8 °C26 mm51 mm
June34.4 °C27.3 °C14 mm40 mm
July37.5 °C31.0 °C5 mm14 mm
August37.4 °C31.0 °C1 mm14 mm
September34.0 °C26.5 °C11 mm17 mm
October29.2 °C20.3 °C24 mm33 mm
November22.7 °C13.0 °C39 mm32 mm
December17.7 °C6.7 °C64 mm43 mm

One station per place; weather varies within every country. Not a forecast.

What this comparison cannot tell you

  • A share of each place's own year, not a crowd count. A low share means that month was quiet for that place. It does not mean the place had fewer visitors than somewhere else, and a small country's busy month can still be far quieter than a big country's quiet one.
  • Nights, not queues. A national or prefecture total cannot show crowding at one sight, beach or old town. Day trips do not count at all, because nobody stays the night.
  • One year. These are 2025 figures. Another year can differ, for example when Easter moves between March and April.
  • We have not been to these places and make no judgement about which is better to visit.

Want a different pair? Open these two in Compare and add or swap places.

Key takeaways

  • Busiest in 2025: Cyprus in August, Türkiye in August.
  • Quietest: Cyprus in January, Türkiye in February.
  • Two busiest months: 29.6% of Cyprus's year, 29.2% of Türkiye's.
  • What we would skip: picking one over the other on these figures alone. They show when each is busy, not which you would enjoy more.

Sources

The tourism figures come from Eurostat and the weather from the World Meteorological Organization's 1991–2020 normals, published by NOAA. We copied every figure from the two places' own pages, where each source is cited in full. See how we research.

  1. Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
  2. Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), the station named for each country in the table (the same station its country page uses), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years; also station MilanoLinate (station ID 00016080); also station BariPalese (station ID 00016270), from the same files, downloaded 24 September 2026. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.

Modified data. The monthly shares, orderings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts and the Japan Tourism Agency's figures (「宿泊旅行統計調査」(観光庁)を加工して作成). Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Neither body is responsible for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here.