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Samarkand
City in southeastern Uzbekistan

Samarkand

Samarkand is a major city located in southeastern Uzbekistan.

Plan a trip to Samarkand→From Bukhara

Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia, it has a population of 882,000 inhabitants as of 2026, making it the second-largest city in Uzbekistan after Tashkent. It is the capital of the Samarkand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements of Kimyogarlar, Farkhod and Khishrav. Earlier it also served as the initial capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925 until 1930.

Get in

Getting to Samarkand

  1. 01
    Samarkand Airport

    This has daily flights from Moscow (several airports), Saint Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi, less often from Almaty, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi.

  2. 02
    Samarkand Railway Station

    In Uzbek, Tajik and Russian, it is called "vokzal".

  3. 03
    Samarkand Central Bus and Taxi Station
  4. 04
    Ulughbek Taxi and Bus Station
Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Eternal City and Eternity Square

    Opened in 2022, a very beautiful tourist complex near a large Samarkand Rowing Canal, about 10 km east of the historical center of Samarkand.

  2. 02
    Afrasiyab

    If you don't mind dust and love archaeology, then in the historical center of Samarkand, there are the ruins of ancient Samarkand, now called Afrasiyab.

  3. 03
    Football

    The main football club in Samarkand is Dinamo Samarkand, which participates in the Uzbekistan Super League (the highest level of the country's leagues).

  4. 04
    Samarkand Regional Anton Chekhov Russian Drama Theater

    If you understand Russian, there is an Anton Chekhov Russian Drama Theatre in the Soviet part (West) of Samarkand, where performances are entirely in Russian.

  5. 05
    Samarkand Regional Theater of Musical Drama
  6. 06
    Samarkand Grand Concert Hall
Eat

Where to eat

Plov is the staple dish, rice stewed with meat and veg. The local version uses more oil and yellow carrots than elsewhere, sometimes enlivened by an otherwise useless horse. Samarkand Non, the local bread, is almost a bowl or cake.

  1. 01
    Historic

    Great local restaurant in a side street only a few meters from the Registan.

  2. 02
    Cafe Magistr

    Slick central place with veggie choices, staff speak good English.

  3. 03
    Joni Osh

    70,000 som for a "half" portion, salad, bread and drink.

  4. 04
    Karim Bek

    Istiqlol, Amir Temur 157 (next to Karim Bek),.

  5. 05
    Merci

    Orzi Makhmudov 14,.

How locals move

Getting around Samarkand the local way

  • Get inIt's 5 km northwest of city centre, take the tram or marshrutka as below, or a taxi (price in the night is US$10-15 (2025)).
  • Get inSamarkand is 290 km southwest of Tashkent, about four hours to drive; buses and shared taxis leave from Sobir Rahimov bus station.
  • Get aroundMarshrukas - white city minibuses - are tired, wheezy and crowded.
  • Go nextYou can find a taxi to the border from the center for 80,000-100,000 so‘m (bargain hard) or go to Kaftarkhona Station first and get a minivan from there.

From Wikivoyage: Samarkand, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.