VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • families
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • 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. Kyoto 15, Samarkand 4: Kyoto leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Samarkand 54: Kyoto leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Samarkand 84: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Samarkand 14: Kyoto leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Samarkand 40: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Samarkand 72: Kyoto leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Samarkand 30: Kyoto leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Samarkand 58: Kyoto leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Samarkand 42: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Samarkand 24: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Samarkand 32: Kyoto leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoSamarkand
Official languageJapaneseUzbek
CurrencyYen (JPY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m702 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoSamarkand
City population1,463,723546,303
People per km²1,7685,058
Museums within 10 km7711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Kyoto or Samarkand somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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.