VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Victoria?

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 Victoria for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: Victoria leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Victoria 50: Samarkand leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Victoria 42: Samarkand leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Victoria 30: Victoria leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Victoria 54: Samarkand leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Victoria 62: Victoria leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Victoria 60: Victoria leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Victoria 40: Samarkand leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Victoria 34: Samarkand leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Victoria 40: Victoria leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Victoria
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandVictoria

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

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

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandVictoria
Official languageUzbekFrench, English
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m23 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandVictoria
City population546,30391,867
People per km²5,0584,711
Museums within 10 km116
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 Victoria 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.