VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Samarkand or Seattle?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Seattle for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Seattle 50: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Seattle 55: Samarkand leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Seattle 22: Samarkand leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Seattle.

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.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSeattle
Official languageUzbek-
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m40 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSeattle
City population546,303737,015
People per km²5,0581,996
Museums within 10 km1127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Seattle 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). 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.