VacationSelector
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Macau 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 Macau for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Macau 24, Samarkand 4: Macau leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Macau 77, Samarkand 54: Macau leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Macau 62, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Macau 40, Samarkand 14: Macau leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Macau 5, Samarkand 40: Samarkand leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Macau 52, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Macau 48, Samarkand 30: Macau leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Macau 60, Samarkand 58: Macau leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Macau 58, Samarkand 42: Macau leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Macau 44, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Macau 36, Samarkand 24: Macau leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Macau 40, Samarkand 32: Macau leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Macau and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Macau
46match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MacauSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMacauSamarkand
Official languagePortuguese, Cantonese, Standard ChineseUzbek
CurrencyPataca (MOP)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsFGM220 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5
Emergency number999112
Elevation22 m702 m
Main airportMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureMacauSamarkand
City population682,100546,303
People per km²5,9165,058
Museums within 10 km2811
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months-

Where else could you go?

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