VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Santiago?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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 12: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Santiago 52: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Santiago 70: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Santiago 58: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Santiago 37: Santiago leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Santiago.

Your match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife 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
15 hdaylight a day

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSantiago
Official languageUzbekSpanish
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation702 m575 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSantiago
City population546,3036,257,516
People per km²5,0587,468
Museums within 10 km1154
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 Santiago 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.