VacationSelector
The Church of Saint Sava, Belgrade
BelgradeThe Church of Saint Sava
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Belgrade by Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Belgrade 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 Belgrade for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • 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. Belgrade 40, Samarkand 4: Belgrade leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Belgrade 60, Samarkand 54: Belgrade leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Belgrade 52, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Belgrade 80, Samarkand 14: Belgrade leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Belgrade 50, Samarkand 40: Belgrade leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Belgrade 60, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Belgrade 45, Samarkand 30: Belgrade leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Belgrade 55, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Belgrade and Samarkand are level on 42.
Affordability. Belgrade 70, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Belgrade 55, Samarkand 24: Belgrade leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Belgrade 30, Samarkand 32: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Belgrade
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Belgrade in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
10 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BelgradeSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Belgrade: 1991-2020 normals, Beograd (2.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBelgradeSamarkand
Official languageSerbianUzbek
CurrencySerbian Dinar (RSD)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 92/192, ambulance 94/194, fire 93/193112
Elevation117 m702 m
Main airportBelgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG)12 km from centre125 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBelgradeSamarkand
City population1,197,714546,303
People per km²3,3275,058
Museums within 10 km6511
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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