VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • 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. Rome 50, Samarkand 4: Rome leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Samarkand 54: Rome leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Samarkand 84: Rome leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Samarkand 14: Rome leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Samarkand 40: Rome leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Samarkand 72: Rome leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Samarkand 30: Rome leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Samarkand 58: Rome leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Samarkand 42: Rome leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Samarkand 24: Rome leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Samarkand 32: Rome leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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
RomeSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSamarkand
Official languageItalianUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m702 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSamarkand
City population2,748,109546,303
People per km²2,1355,058
Museums within 10 km17811
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
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 Rome 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.