VacationSelector
The Taj Mahal reflected in its pool, Agra
AgraThe Taj Mahal reflected in its pool
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Agra by Sanket Sawale, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Agra 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 Agra for

  • prices

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

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. Agra 3, Samarkand 4: Samarkand leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Agra 42, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Agra 80, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Agra 7, Samarkand 14: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Agra 30, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Agra 70, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Agra 20, Samarkand 30: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Agra 28, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Agra 38, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Agra 90, Samarkand 80: Agra leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Agra 10, Samarkand 24: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Agra 15, Samarkand 32: Samarkand leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Agra and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Agra
36match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Samarkand
Best match
45match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Agra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AgraSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Agra 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. Agra: 1942-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Agra (6.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAgraSamarkand
Official languageHindi, EnglishUzbek
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+5
Emergency number108 or 112112
Elevation171 m702 m
Main airportAgra Airport / Agra Air Force Station (AGR)6 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAgraSamarkand
City population1,585,705546,303
People per km²8,4175,058
Museums within 10 km011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Agra 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.