VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or San Sebastian?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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 Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, San Sebastian 52: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, San Sebastian 40: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, San Sebastian 32: Samarkand leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and San Sebastian.

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 Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches and families 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 Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer 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 Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSan Sebastian
Official languageUzbekSpanish
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m6 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSan Sebastian
City population546,303189,866
People per km²5,0583,118
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or San Sebastian 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.