VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • 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. Lima 42, Samarkand 4: Lima leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Samarkand 54: Lima leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Samarkand 14: Lima leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Samarkand 40: Lima leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Samarkand 30: Lima leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Samarkand 42: Lima leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Samarkand 24: Lima leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Samarkand 32: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSamarkand
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaUzbek
CurrencySol (PEN)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+5
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation154 m702 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSamarkand
City population9,943,800546,303
People per km²3,7215,058
Museums within 10 km4711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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