Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

Turkey

Istanbul vs. Phuket Cost of Living Summary

Istanbul is 23.7% more expensive than Phuket.

Restaurants: pay 75.8% more in Istanbul
Groceries: pay 24.4% less in Istanbul
Transportation: pay 54.0% more in Istanbul
Housing: pay 27.7% more in Istanbul
Childcare: pay 2.0 times more in Istanbul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 30.6% more in Istanbul
Clothing: pay 7.4% more in Istanbul

The cost of childcare, restaurants, transportation, entertainment and sports, housing, and clothing in Istanbul are more expensive than in Phuket. Notably, childcare and restaurants are significantly more expensive in Istanbul.

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Istanbul vs. Phuket Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Istanbul instead of Phuket, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 75.8% more for restaurants

	Phuket	Istanbul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.46 THB148.24	$12.19 TRY603.79	+173.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.62 THB286.59	$9.35 TRY462.91	+8.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.92 THB30.54	$1.73 TRY85.71	+88.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.48 THB15.87	$0.58 TRY28.65	+21.3%
Average			+75.8%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 24.4% less for groceries

	Phuket	Istanbul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.42 THB47.33	$0.92 TRY45.58	-35.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.70 THB322.52	$5.28 TRY261.28	-45.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.39 THB212.60	$4.69 TRY231.97	-26.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.13 THB70.84	$2.41 TRY119.39	+13.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.52 THB50.73	$2.54 TRY125.71	+66.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.32 THB43.97	$0.85 TRY42.16	-35.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.75 THB24.92	$1.03 TRY50.86	+37.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 THB33.84	$0.57 TRY28.34	-43.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.95 THB31.62	$0.84 TRY41.37	-12.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.67 THB22.39	$0.31 TRY15.36	-53.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.61 THB20.32	$0.29 TRY14.17	-53.1%
Average			-24.4%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of groceries

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pay 54.0% more for transportation

	Phuket	Istanbul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.52 THB183.69	$5.43 TRY269.03	-1.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$22.39 THB744.96	$67.03 TRY3,318.85	+199.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,737.57 THB889K	$50,810.11 TRY3M	+90.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$11.29 THB375.54	$8.40 TRY416.09	-25.6%
Average			+54.0%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of transportation

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pay 27.7% more for housing

	Phuket	Istanbul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$17.15 THB570.48	$16.15 TRY799.42	-5.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$726.87 THB24,179.29	$996.85 TRY49,357.64	+37.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$463.45 THB15,416.77	$647.83 TRY32,076.47	+39.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$74.96 THB2,493.60	$68.87 TRY3,410.06	-8.1%
Average			+27.7%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of housing

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pay 2.0 times more for childcare

	Phuket	Istanbul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$555.38 THB18,474.87	$1,021.62 TRY50,584.39	+83.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,455.56 THB381K	$25,999.20 TRY1M	+127.0%
Average			+104.3%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of childcare

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pay 30.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Phuket	Istanbul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.53 THB84.00	$4.78 TRY236.49	+89.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.77 THB92.02	$4.31 TRY213.63	+56.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.33 THB143.89	$2.34 TRY115.73	-46.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$52.26 THB1,738.47	$76.22 TRY3,773.70	+45.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.58 THB252.00	$8.13 TRY402.53	+7.3%
Average			+30.6%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 7.4% more for clothing

	Phuket	Istanbul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$62.94 THB2,093.63	$53.35 TRY2,641.33	-15.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$28.69 THB954.49	$39.62 TRY1,961.62	+38.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$95.68 THB3,182.71	$99.91 TRY4,947.03	+4.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$87.87 THB2,922.95	$95.52 TRY4,729.71	+8.7%
Average			+7.4%

Phuket vs. Istanbul - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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