VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Budapest 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 Budapest for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Budapest 25, Samarkand 4: Budapest leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Samarkand 54: Budapest leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Samarkand 14: Budapest leads by 64 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Samarkand 40: Budapest leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Samarkand 30: Budapest leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Samarkand 58: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Samarkand 42: Budapest leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Samarkand 24: Budapest leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Samarkand 32: Budapest leads by 66 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Budapest and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and nightlife 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.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestSamarkand

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

Before you go

MeasureBudapestSamarkand
Official languageHungarianUzbek
CurrencyForint (HUF)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation117 m702 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestSamarkand
City population1,675,777546,303
People per km²3,1915,058
Museums within 10 km8111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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