VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Denver 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 Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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. Denver 5, Samarkand 4: Denver leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Denver and Samarkand are level on 54.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Samarkand 14: Denver leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Samarkand 40: Denver leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Samarkand 30: Denver leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Samarkand 42: Denver leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Samarkand 24: Denver leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, Samarkand 32: Denver leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Denver and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Denver
Best match
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 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
DenverSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverSamarkand
Official language-Uzbek
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,609 m702 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDenverSamarkand
City population715,522546,303
People per km²1,7835,058
Museums within 10 km2611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Denver 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.