VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tokyo?

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

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand and Tokyo are level on 84.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 72 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tokyo 68: Tokyo leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 65 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 57 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tokyo 48: Samarkand leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 62 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Tokyo.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on nightlife 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTokyo
Official languageUzbekJapanese
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation702 m6 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTokyo
City population546,30314,264,798
People per km²5,0586,501
Museums within 10 km11192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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