VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

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

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • 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. Guadalajara 5, Samarkand 4: Guadalajara leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Samarkand 54: Guadalajara leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Samarkand 14: Guadalajara leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Samarkand 40: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Samarkand 30: Guadalajara leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Samarkand 42: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Samarkand 24: Guadalajara leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Samarkand 32: Guadalajara leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraSamarkand
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaUzbek
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,536 m702 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraSamarkand
City population1,385,621546,303
People per km²9,5565,058
Museums within 10 km1711
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 Guadalajara or Samarkand somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.