VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Samarkand or Valencia?

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 Valencia for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Valencia 74: Valencia leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Valencia 68: Samarkand leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Valencia 70: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 45 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Valencia 57: Samarkand leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Valencia 55: Valencia leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Valencia 42: Valencia leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Valencia.

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.

Valencia
Best match
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandValencia
Official languageUzbekSpanish
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m15 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandValencia
City population546,303840,792
People per km²5,0586,242
Museums within 10 km1145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Valencia 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.