VacationSelector
The Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Cusco 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 Cusco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • families
  • getting around
  • 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. Cusco 3, Samarkand 4: Samarkand leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Cusco 56, Samarkand 54: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cusco 81, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Cusco 42, Samarkand 14: Cusco leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cusco 86, Samarkand 40: Cusco leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Cusco 78, Samarkand 72: Cusco leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Cusco 10, Samarkand 30: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cusco 48, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Cusco 52, Samarkand 42: Cusco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cusco 73, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cusco 30, Samarkand 24: Cusco leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cusco 33, Samarkand 32: Cusco leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cusco and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Cusco
Best match
49match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on families 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.

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
CuscoSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCuscoSamarkand
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaUzbek
CurrencySol (PEN)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation3,399 m702 m
Main airportAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCuscoSamarkand
City population428,450546,303
People per km²-5,058
Museums within 10 km1111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

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