VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Wilmington?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Wilmington 48: Samarkand leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Wilmington 40: Samarkand leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Wilmington 45: Samarkand leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Wilmington 28: Samarkand leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Wilmington 33: Samarkand leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Wilmington 42: Samarkand leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandWilmington
Official languageUzbek-
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation702 m9 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandWilmington
City population546,303115,451
People per km²5,058839
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.