VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Beijing’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. Beijing 6, Samarkand 4: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Samarkand 54: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Samarkand 84: Beijing leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Samarkand 14: Beijing leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Samarkand 40: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Samarkand 72: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Samarkand 30: Beijing leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Samarkand 58: Beijing leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Samarkand 42: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Samarkand 24: Beijing leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Samarkand 32: Beijing leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingSamarkand
Official languagePutonghuaUzbek
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m702 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingSamarkand
City population21,893,095546,303
People per km²1,3345,058
Museums within 10 km8311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61

Where else could you go?

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