VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Sao Paulo?

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

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Sao Paulo 60: Samarkand leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 72 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Sao Paulo 48: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Sao Paulo 47: Samarkand leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Sao Paulo 44: Samarkand leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Sao Paulo 62: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Sao Paulo 25: Samarkand leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Samarkand
45match

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

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSao Paulo
Official languageUzbekPortuguese
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation702 m760 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSao Paulo
City population546,30311,451,999
People per km²5,0587,519
Museums within 10 km1190
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 Sao Paulo 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). 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.