VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices

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. Athens 70, Samarkand 4: Athens leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Samarkand 54: Athens leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Samarkand 84: Athens leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Samarkand 14: Athens leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Samarkand 40: Athens leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Samarkand 72: Athens leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Samarkand 30: Athens leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Samarkand 58: Athens leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Samarkand 42: Athens leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Samarkand 24: Athens leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Samarkand 32: Athens leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AthensSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensSamarkand
Official languageGreekUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m702 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAthensSamarkand
City population643,452546,303
People per km²16,4995,058
Museums within 10 km8811
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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