VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Santiago de Compostela?

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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Santiago de Compostela 70: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Santiago de Compostela 45: Santiago de Compostela leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Samarkand and Santiago de Compostela are level on 72.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Santiago de Compostela 35: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Santiago de Compostela 64: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Santiago de Compostela 40: Santiago de Compostela leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Santiago de Compostela.

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.

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

Wins on nightlife and beaches 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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSantiago de Compostela

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSantiago de Compostela
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 m260 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSantiago de Compostela
City population546,303100,965
People per km²5,058459
Museums within 10 km116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Santiago de Compostela 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.