VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

AlUla 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 AlUla for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. AlUla 3, Samarkand 4: Samarkand leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Samarkand 14: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Samarkand 40: AlUla leads by 32 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 52 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Samarkand 30: AlUla leads by 5 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Samarkand 24: AlUla leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Samarkand 32: AlUla leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Samarkand.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Samarkand
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

AlUla in July

43 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaSamarkand

Where the figures come from

AlUla 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. AlUla: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Alula / Al ‘Ulá (23.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaSamarkand
Official languageArabicUzbek
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsG60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m702 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaSamarkand
City population32,413546,303
People per km²-5,058
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.