VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Lisbon 50, Samarkand 4: Lisbon leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Samarkand 54: Lisbon leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Samarkand 14: Lisbon leads by 61 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Samarkand 40: Lisbon leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Samarkand 72: Lisbon leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Samarkand 30: Lisbon leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Samarkand 58: Lisbon leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Samarkand 42: Lisbon leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Samarkand 24: Lisbon leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Samarkand 32: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife and beaches 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.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonSamarkand

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

Before you go

MeasureLisbonSamarkand
Official languagePortugueseUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m702 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonSamarkand
City population545,796546,303
People per km²5,4535,058
Museums within 10 km8011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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