VacationSelector
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Salzburg 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 Salzburg for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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. Salzburg 35, Samarkand 4: Salzburg leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Salzburg 45, Samarkand 54: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Salzburg 72, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Salzburg 25, Samarkand 14: Salzburg leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salzburg 86, Samarkand 40: Salzburg leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Salzburg 80, Samarkand 72: Salzburg leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Salzburg 65, Samarkand 30: Salzburg leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Salzburg 72, Samarkand 58: Salzburg leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Salzburg 48, Samarkand 42: Salzburg leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Salzburg 32, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salzburg 80, Samarkand 24: Salzburg leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salzburg 55, Samarkand 32: Salzburg leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salzburg and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Salzburg
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors 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.

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SalzburgSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalzburgSamarkand
Official languageGerman, Austrian Sign LanguageUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation424 m702 m
Main airportSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSalzburgSamarkand
City population155,021546,303
People per km²2,3605,058
Museums within 10 km3811
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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