VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tampa?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Tampa 42: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Tampa 54: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tampa 22: Samarkand leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Tampa 40: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tampa 40: Samarkand leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tampa 30: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Tampa.

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.

Tampa
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTampa
Official languageUzbek-
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m30 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTampa
City population546,303384,959
People per km²5,058848
Museums within 10 km116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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