VacationSelector
The old harbour in Kaleiçi, Antalya
AntalyaThe old harbour in Kaleiçi
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Antalya by Furkan Tumer, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Antalya 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 Antalya for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • 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. Antalya 82, Samarkand 4: Antalya leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Antalya 57, Samarkand 54: Antalya leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Antalya 55, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Antalya 48, Samarkand 14: Antalya leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antalya 83, Samarkand 40: Antalya leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Antalya 78, Samarkand 72: Antalya leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Antalya 74, Samarkand 30: Antalya leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Antalya 50, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Antalya 44, Samarkand 42: Antalya leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Antalya 62, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antalya 40, Samarkand 24: Antalya leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antalya 62, Samarkand 32: Antalya leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antalya and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Antalya
Best match
61match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antalya in July

35 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
28 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AntalyaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antalya: 1991-2020 normals, Antalya (23.4 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntalyaSamarkand
Official languageTurkishUzbek
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation30 m702 m
Main airportAntalya International Airport (AYT)9 km from centre172 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntalyaSamarkand
City population2,426,356546,303
People per km²1,7125,058
Museums within 10 km511
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antalya 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). 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.