VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tangier?

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
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Tangier for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tangier 58: Tangier leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Tangier 57: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tangier 30: Tangier leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tangier 55: Tangier leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Samarkand and Tangier are level on 72.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tangier 35: Tangier leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tangier 40: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand and Tangier are level on 42.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tangier 76: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tangier 28: Tangier leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

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 getting around with your weighting.

Tangier
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTangier
Official languageUzbekArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation702 m56 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTangier
City population546,3031,275,428
People per km²5,0586,393
Museums within 10 km116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or Tangier 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.