VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Samarkand or San Francisco?

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 Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Francisco for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Samarkand 4, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, San Francisco 68: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Samarkand and San Francisco are level on 72.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, San Francisco 14: Samarkand leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSan Francisco
Official languageUzbek-
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m16 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSan Francisco
City population546,303873,965
People per km²5,0581,455
Museums within 10 km1151
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or San Francisco 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.