VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
Cliff-top hotels above the harbour, Sorrento
SorrentoCliff-top hotels above the harbour

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Sorrento?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Sorrento for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’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, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Sorrento 32: Samarkand leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Sorrento 28: Sorrento leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Sorrento 80: Sorrento leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Sorrento 95: Sorrento leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Sorrento 42: Sorrento leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Samarkand and Sorrento are level on 58.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Sorrento 38: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Sorrento 32: Samarkand leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Sorrento 20: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Sorrento 48: Sorrento leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Sorrento.

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.

Sorrento
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Sorrento in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandSorrento

Where the figures come from

Sorrento has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandSorrento
Official languageUzbekItalian
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m50 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandSorrento
City population546,30315,407
People per km²5,0581,541
Museums within 10 km116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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