VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Xi'an?

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

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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 and Xi'an are level on 4.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Xi'an 81: Samarkand leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Samarkand and Xi'an are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Samarkand
45match

Wins on culture and sights with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors 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
15 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandXi'an
Official languageUzbekPutonghua
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation702 m405 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandXi'an
City population546,30312,952,907
People per km²5,0581,283
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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