VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • 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. Faro 74, Samarkand 4: Faro leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Samarkand 14: Faro leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Samarkand 40: Faro leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Samarkand 30: Faro leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Samarkand 58: Faro leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Samarkand 24: Faro leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Samarkand 32: Faro leads by 1 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSamarkand
Official languagePortugueseUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m702 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSamarkand
City population64,560546,303
People per km²3195,058
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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