VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Santa Marta?

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
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Santa Marta 44: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Santa Marta 34: Samarkand leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Santa Marta 38: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Santa Marta 40: Santa Marta leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Santa Marta 38: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Santa Marta 27: Samarkand leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Samarkand and Santa Marta are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Santa Marta 17: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Santa Marta 30: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSanta Marta
Official languageUzbekSpanish
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation702 m8 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSanta Marta
City population546,303505,915
People per km²5,0581,723
Museums within 10 km113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or Santa Marta 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). 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.