VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • 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. Los Angeles 60, Samarkand 4: Los Angeles leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Samarkand 54: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Samarkand 14: Los Angeles leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Samarkand 40: Los Angeles leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Samarkand 30: Los Angeles leads by 54 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Samarkand 42: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Samarkand 24: Los Angeles leads by 59 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Samarkand 32: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices 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.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSamarkand
Official language-Uzbek
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m702 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSamarkand
City population3,898,747546,303
People per km²2,9945,058
Museums within 10 km3911
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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