VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Biarritz 68, Samarkand 4: Biarritz leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Samarkand 54: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Samarkand 14: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Samarkand 40: Biarritz leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Samarkand 72: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Samarkand 30: Biarritz leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Biarritz and Samarkand are level on 58.
Shopping & style. Biarritz and Samarkand are level on 42.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Samarkand 24: Biarritz leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Samarkand 32: Biarritz leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Biarritz
Best match
54match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzSamarkand
Official languageFrenchUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m702 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzSamarkand
City population26,206546,303
People per km²2,2405,058
Museums within 10 km811
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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