VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Samarkand or San Jose, Costa Rica?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’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 Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Samarkand leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Samarkand leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Samarkand leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Samarkand leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Samarkand leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Samarkand
Best match
45match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
15 hdaylight a day

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageUzbekSpanish
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m1,161 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population546,303335,007
People per km²5,0587,511
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or San Jose, Costa Rica 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.