VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Osaka 34, Samarkand 4: Osaka leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Samarkand 54: Osaka leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Samarkand 14: Osaka leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Samarkand 40: Osaka leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Samarkand 72: Osaka leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Samarkand 30: Osaka leads by 58 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Samarkand 58: Osaka leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Samarkand 42: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Samarkand 24: Osaka leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Samarkand 32: Osaka leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OsakaSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaSamarkand
Official languageJapaneseUzbek
CurrencyYen (JPY)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation20 m702 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaSamarkand
City population2,751,862546,303
People per km²12,3405,058
Museums within 10 km4411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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