VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Rotterdam 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 Rotterdam for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Rotterdam 27, Samarkand 4: Rotterdam leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Samarkand 14: Rotterdam leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Samarkand 40: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Samarkand 72: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Samarkand 30: Rotterdam leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Samarkand 58: Rotterdam leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Samarkand 42: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Samarkand 24: Rotterdam leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Samarkand 32: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSamarkand

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSamarkand
Official languageDutchUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m702 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSamarkand
City population664,311546,303
People per km²2,0805,058
Museums within 10 km4011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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