VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tirana?

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
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Tirana for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tirana 57: Tirana leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Tirana 42: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Tirana 64: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tirana 40: Tirana leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tirana 54: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Tirana 32: Samarkand leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tirana 76: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tirana 27: Samarkand leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Tirana.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Tirana
Best match
49match

Wins on nightlife and beaches 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTirana
Official languageUzbekAlbanian
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Lek (ALL)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m110 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTirana
City population546,303389,323
People per km²5,0589,314
Museums within 10 km1111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Tirana 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.