VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

New York 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 New York for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • day trips

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. New York 50, Samarkand 4: New York leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Samarkand 54: New York leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Samarkand 84: New York leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Samarkand 14: New York leads by 83 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Samarkand 40: New York leads by 15 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Samarkand 30: New York leads by 40 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Samarkand 58: New York leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Samarkand 42: New York leads by 55 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Samarkand 24: New York leads by 75 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Samarkand 32: New York leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °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
New YorkSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSamarkand
Official language-Uzbek
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation25 m702 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSamarkand
City population8,804,190546,303
People per km²7,2565,058
Museums within 10 km15711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 New York 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.