VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Jakarta 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 Jakarta for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Jakarta 28, Samarkand 4: Jakarta leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Samarkand 54: Jakarta leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Samarkand 14: Jakarta leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Jakarta 45, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Jakarta 50, Samarkand 30: Jakarta leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Samarkand 42: Jakarta leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Jakarta and Samarkand are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta 42, Samarkand 24: Jakarta leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Samarkand 32: Jakarta leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Jakarta
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JakartaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJakartaSamarkand
Official languageIndonesianUzbek
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation91 m702 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaSamarkand
City population11,135,191546,303
People per km²16,8215,058
Museums within 10 km4411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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