VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Colombo 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 Colombo for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • 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. Colombo 55, Samarkand 4: Colombo leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Samarkand 54: Colombo leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Samarkand 14: Colombo leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Samarkand 30: Colombo leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Samarkand 42: Colombo leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Samarkand 24: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Samarkand 32: Colombo leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo 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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboSamarkand
Official languageTamil, SinhalaUzbek
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m702 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureColomboSamarkand
City population647,557546,303
People per km²17,3615,058
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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