VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Bergen 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 Bergen for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • 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. Bergen 20, Samarkand 4: Bergen leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Samarkand 14: Bergen leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Samarkand 40: Bergen leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Samarkand 30: Bergen leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Samarkand 58: Bergen leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Samarkand 24: Bergen leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen and Samarkand are level on 32.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bergen
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices 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.

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
18 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
BergenSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenSamarkand
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiUzbek
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation5 m702 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBergenSamarkand
City population291,189546,303
People per km²3,3395,058
Museums within 10 km3111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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