VacationSelector
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Delhi 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 Delhi for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • 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. Delhi and Samarkand are level on 4.
Food & drink. Delhi 84, Samarkand 54: Delhi leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Delhi 85, Samarkand 84: Delhi leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Delhi 44, Samarkand 14: Delhi leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Delhi 20, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Delhi 68, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Delhi 32, Samarkand 30: Delhi leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Delhi 55, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Delhi 78, Samarkand 42: Delhi leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Delhi 90, Samarkand 80: Delhi leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Delhi 55, Samarkand 24: Delhi leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Delhi 25, Samarkand 32: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Delhi and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Delhi
Best match
53match

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

Samarkand
45match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DelhiSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDelhiSamarkand
Official languageHindi, EnglishUzbek
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+5
Emergency number108 or 112112
Elevation221 m702 m
Main airportIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureDelhiSamarkand
City population26,495,000546,303
People per km²18,9625,058
Museums within 10 km2311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

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