VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Krakow 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 Krakow for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Krakow 9, Samarkand 4: Krakow leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, Samarkand 54: Krakow leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow 77, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, Samarkand 14: Krakow leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow 62, Samarkand 40: Krakow leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Krakow 76, Samarkand 72: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, Samarkand 30: Krakow leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, Samarkand 58: Krakow leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow 48, Samarkand 42: Krakow leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Krakow 72, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, Samarkand 24: Krakow leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow 36, Samarkand 32: Krakow leads by 4 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Krakow and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Krakow
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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.

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowSamarkand
Official languagePolishUzbek
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCE50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation219 m702 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowSamarkand
City population804,237546,303
People per km²2,4595,058
Museums within 10 km11311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

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