VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • 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. Bangkok 12, Samarkand 4: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Samarkand 54: Bangkok leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Samarkand 14: Bangkok leads by 71 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Bangkok and Samarkand are level on 72.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Samarkand 30: Bangkok leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Samarkand 42: Bangkok leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Samarkand 80: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Samarkand 24: Bangkok leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Samarkand 32: Bangkok leads by 43 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokSamarkand
Official languageThaiUzbek
CurrencyBaht (THB)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation2 m702 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokSamarkand
City population5,676,648546,303
People per km²3,6195,058
Museums within 10 km5911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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