VacationSelector
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Samarkand or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Samarkand 54, Zurich 53: Samarkand leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Samarkand 84, Zurich 58: Samarkand leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Samarkand 14, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Samarkand 40, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Samarkand 72, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Samarkand 30, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Samarkand 58, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Samarkand 42, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Samarkand 80, Zurich 3: Samarkand leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Samarkand 24, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Samarkand 32, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Samarkand and Zurich.

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.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife 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
15 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SamarkandZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSamarkandZurich
Official languageUzbekFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUzbekistan Sum (UZS)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCFI220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation702 m408 m
Main airportSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSamarkandZurich
City population546,303440,935
People per km²5,0585,016
Museums within 10 km1163
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Samarkand or Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.