VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Samarkand or Seoul?

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Seoul 75: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 70 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Seoul 50: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 43 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and families 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSeoul
Official languageUzbekKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Won (KRW)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation702 m38 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-18 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSeoul
City population546,3039,668,465
People per km²5,05815,973
Museums within 10 km1181
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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