VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or San Jose?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose San Jose for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 30: San Jose leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, San Jose 36: Samarkand leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, San Jose 33: San Jose leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, San Jose 30: Samarkand leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, San Jose 20: Samarkand leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, San Jose 30: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and San Jose.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSan Jose
City population546,3031,013,240
People per km²5,0582,167
Museums within 10 km1119
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 Jose 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.