VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • 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. Oslo 36, Samarkand 4: Oslo leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Samarkand 54: Oslo leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Samarkand 14: Oslo leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Samarkand 40: Oslo leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Samarkand 30: Oslo leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Samarkand 58: Oslo leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Samarkand 42: Oslo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Samarkand 24: Oslo leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Samarkand 32: Oslo leads by 28 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Oslo
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 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
OsloSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSamarkand
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiUzbek
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation23 m702 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSamarkand
City population717,710546,303
People per km²-5,058
Museums within 10 km6011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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