VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

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

Geneva 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 Geneva for

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

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Geneva 45, Samarkand 4: Geneva leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Samarkand 54: Geneva leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Samarkand 14: Geneva leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Samarkand 40: Geneva leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Samarkand 72: Geneva leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Samarkand 30: Geneva leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Samarkand 58: Geneva leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Samarkand 42: Geneva leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Samarkand 24: Geneva leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Samarkand 32: Geneva leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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.

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaSamarkand
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshUzbek
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation403 m702 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaSamarkand
City population211,152546,303
People per km²13,2805,058
Museums within 10 km3411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or Samarkand somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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.