VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Amsterdam 25, Samarkand 4: Amsterdam leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Samarkand 54: Amsterdam leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Samarkand 14: Amsterdam leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Samarkand 40: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Samarkand 72: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Samarkand 30: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Samarkand 58: Amsterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Samarkand 42: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Samarkand 24: Amsterdam leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Samarkand 32: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSamarkand
Official languageDutchUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m702 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSamarkand
City population921,468546,303
People per km²4,2085,058
Museums within 10 km10111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.