VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

London 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 London for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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. London 25, Samarkand 4: London leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Samarkand 54: London leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Samarkand 84: London leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Samarkand 14: London leads by 74 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Samarkand 40: London leads by 17 points.
Day trips. London 90, Samarkand 72: London leads by 18 points.
Good for families. London 82, Samarkand 30: London leads by 52 points.
Getting around. London 85, Samarkand 58: London leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Samarkand 42: London leads by 53 points.
Affordability. London 15, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Samarkand 24: London leads by 74 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Samarkand 32: London leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Samarkand.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LondonSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonSamarkand
Official languageEnglishUzbek
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation4 m702 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLondonSamarkand
City population8,799,728546,303
People per km²5,5985,058
Museums within 10 km21611
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 London 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). 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.