VacationSelector
Ferries off the Kordon promenade, Izmir
IzmirFerries off the Kordon promenade
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Izmir by Toygar Par, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Izmir 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 Izmir for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • prices

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. Izmir 62, Samarkand 4: Izmir leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Izmir 72, Samarkand 54: Izmir leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Izmir 55, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Izmir 60, Samarkand 14: Izmir leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Izmir 66, Samarkand 40: Izmir leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Izmir 86, Samarkand 72: Izmir leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Izmir 55, Samarkand 30: Izmir leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Izmir 63, Samarkand 58: Izmir leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Izmir 55, Samarkand 42: Izmir leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Izmir 66, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Izmir 48, Samarkand 24: Izmir leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Izmir 57, Samarkand 32: Izmir leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Izmir and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Izmir
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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.

Izmir in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
IzmirSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Izmir: 1991-2020 normals, Izmir (3.4 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIzmirSamarkand
Official languageTurkishUzbek
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation2 m702 m
Main airportAdnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)13 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureIzmirSamarkand
City population4,493,242546,303
People per km²4,7605,058
Museums within 10 km2911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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