VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Malaga 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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’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. Malaga 77, Samarkand 4: Malaga leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Samarkand 54: Malaga leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Samarkand 14: Malaga leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Samarkand 40: Malaga leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Samarkand 72: Malaga leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Samarkand 30: Malaga leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Samarkand 58: Malaga leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Samarkand 42: Malaga leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Samarkand 24: Malaga leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Samarkand 32: Malaga leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Malaga and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Malaga
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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.

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaSamarkand
Official languageSpanishUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation18 m702 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaSamarkand
City population599,063546,303
People per km²1,5175,058
Museums within 10 km3211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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