VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Helsinki 28, Samarkand 4: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Samarkand 14: Helsinki leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Samarkand 40: Helsinki leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Samarkand 30: Helsinki leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Samarkand 58: Helsinki leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Samarkand 42: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Samarkand 24: Helsinki leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Samarkand 32: Helsinki leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness and families 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiSamarkand
Official languageFinnish, SwedishUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation17 m702 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiSamarkand
City population694,392546,303
People per km²3,2395,058
Museums within 10 km7411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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