VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tel Aviv?

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 Tel Aviv for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Tel Aviv 57: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 68 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tel Aviv 52: Tel Aviv leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tel Aviv 68: Tel Aviv leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tel Aviv 64: Tel Aviv leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Tel Aviv 55: Tel Aviv leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tel Aviv 14: Samarkand leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tel Aviv 35: Tel Aviv leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Tel Aviv.

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.

Tel Aviv
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTel Aviv

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTel Aviv
Official languageUzbekHebrew
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 100, fire 102
Elevation702 m5 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTel Aviv
City population546,303467,875
People per km²5,0588,998
Museums within 10 km1198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

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