VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Toronto?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Toronto for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Toronto 50: Samarkand leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Toronto 52: Toronto leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Toronto 50: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Toronto 34: Samarkand leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Toronto 33: Toronto leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Toronto.

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.

Toronto
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandToronto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandToronto
Official languageUzbekFrench, English
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m76 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandToronto
City population546,3032,794,356
People per km²5,0584,434
Museums within 10 km1132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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