VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • families
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Fukuoka 50, Samarkand 4: Fukuoka leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Samarkand 54: Fukuoka leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Samarkand 14: Fukuoka leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Samarkand 40: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Samarkand 72: Fukuoka leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Samarkand 30: Fukuoka leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Samarkand 58: Fukuoka leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Samarkand 42: Fukuoka leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Samarkand 24: Fukuoka leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Samarkand 32: Fukuoka leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on families and beaches 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.

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSamarkand
Official languageJapaneseUzbek
CurrencyYen (JPY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation8 m702 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSamarkand
City population1,603,043546,303
People per km²4,7155,058
Museums within 10 km2311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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