VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Samarkand or Valletta?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Valletta 76: Samarkand leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Valletta 56: Valletta leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Valletta 38: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Valletta 50: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand and Valletta are level on 32.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Valletta.

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.

Valletta
Best match
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandValletta
Official languageUzbekEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m56 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandValletta
City population546,3035,197
People per km²5,0586,496
Museums within 10 km1116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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