VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Gdansk 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 Gdansk for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Gdansk’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. Gdansk 40, Samarkand 4: Gdansk leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Samarkand 14: Gdansk leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Samarkand 40: Gdansk leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Samarkand 30: Gdansk leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Samarkand 58: Gdansk leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk and Samarkand are level on 42.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Samarkand 24: Gdansk leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Samarkand 32: Gdansk leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Gdansk
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Gdansk has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskSamarkand
Official languagePolishUzbek
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCE50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation11 m702 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskSamarkand
City population487,834546,303
People per km²7145,058
Museums within 10 km3411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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