VacationSelector
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Granada by Jebulon, CC0; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Granada 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 Granada for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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. Granada 38, Samarkand 4: Granada leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Granada 62, Samarkand 54: Granada leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Granada 80, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Granada 58, Samarkand 14: Granada leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Granada 80, Samarkand 40: Granada leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Granada 76, Samarkand 72: Granada leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Granada 52, Samarkand 30: Granada leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Granada 68, Samarkand 58: Granada leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Granada 40, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Granada 63, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Granada 58, Samarkand 24: Granada leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Granada 48, Samarkand 32: Granada leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Granada and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Granada
Best match
60match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors 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.

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
14 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
GranadaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGranadaSamarkand
Official languageSpanishUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation693 m702 m
Main airportF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGranadaSamarkand
City population233,975546,303
People per km²2,6595,058
Museums within 10 km2011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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