VacationSelector
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Petra 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 Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • getting around

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. Petra 5, Samarkand 4: Petra leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Petra 22, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Petra 85, Samarkand 84: Petra leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Petra 5, Samarkand 14: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Petra 78, Samarkand 40: Petra leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Petra 30, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Petra 25, Samarkand 30: Samarkand leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Petra 25, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Petra 18, Samarkand 42: Samarkand leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Petra 45, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Petra 10, Samarkand 24: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Petra 28, Samarkand 32: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Petra and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Petra
31match

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

Samarkand
Best match
45match

Wins on day trips 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.

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
PetraSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePetraSamarkand
Official languageArabicUzbek
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5
Emergency number911112
Elevation850 m702 m
Main airportKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasurePetraSamarkand
City population-546,303
People per km²-5,058
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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