VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Brussels 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 Brussels for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • 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. Brussels 18, Samarkand 4: Brussels leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Samarkand 54: Brussels leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Samarkand 14: Brussels leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Samarkand 40: Brussels leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Samarkand 72: Brussels leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Samarkand 30: Brussels leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Samarkand 58: Brussels leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Samarkand 42: Brussels leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Samarkand 24: Brussels leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Samarkand 32: Brussels leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 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
BrusselsSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsSamarkand
Official languageFrench, German, DutchUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation70 m702 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsSamarkand
City population195,546546,303
People per km²5,9085,058
Museums within 10 km10611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km101

Where else could you go?

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