VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Tromso?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Tromso leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Tromso 36: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Tromso 27: Samarkand leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Tromso 14: Samarkand leads by 58 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Tromso 45: Tromso leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Tromso 15: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Tromso 11: Samarkand leads by 69 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Tromso 32: Tromso leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Tromso.

Your match

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

Samarkand
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandTromso
Official languageUzbekNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation702 m20 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandTromso
City population546,30379,943
People per km²5,05832
Museums within 10 km118
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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