VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Samarkand?

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 Abu Dhabi for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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. Abu Dhabi 78, Samarkand 4: Abu Dhabi leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Samarkand 54: Abu Dhabi leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Samarkand 14: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Samarkand 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Samarkand 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Samarkand 24: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Samarkand 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi 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. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiSamarkand
Official languageArabicUzbek
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m702 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiSamarkand
City population1,570,000546,303
People per km²1,6155,058
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Samarkand 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). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.