VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Cologne 14, Samarkand 4: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Samarkand 14: Cologne leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Samarkand 40: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Samarkand 72: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Samarkand 30: Cologne leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Samarkand 58: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Samarkand 42: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Samarkand 24: Cologne leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Samarkand 32: Cologne leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Cologne
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.

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 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
CologneSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneSamarkand
Official languageGermanUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m702 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCologneSamarkand
City population1,025,523546,303
People per km²2,5325,058
Museums within 10 km4011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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