The Registan and the Timurid heart
2.2 km · 3 h · 7 stops · 7 stops
- Registan Square
- Chorsu Gallery
- Mausoleum of the Shaybanids
- Park of Poets
- Kok-Saray Ruins
- Rukhabad Mausoleum
- Gur-e-Amir
144 places · UNESCO · Lonely Planet · Condé Nast · Time Out · TikTok 2026 · no Eater coverage · 5 routes
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin for photos, rating and how to get there by tram, taxi or on foot. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Samarkand (Uzbekistan) brings together 144 hand-picked places: 58 attractions, 40 restaurants, 20 cafés and 26 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
2.2 km · 3 h · 7 stops · 7 stops
2.6 km · 3.5 h · 7 stops · 7 stops
6 km · 4 h · 6 stops (taxi between 4 and 6) · 6 stops
11 km · 5 h · 6 stops (taxi between 3 and 4) · 6 stops
13 km · 5 h · 7 stops (taxi between 5 and 6) · 7 stops
Registan Square · Old City
Three Timurid madrasas around a sea of blue mosaic: the most photographed square in all of Central Asia.
Tip: Get there at opening (8am): an hour later the tour buses arrive and the square fills up.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Lonely Planet · TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapUlugh Beg Madrasa · Registan
The oldest of the three (1420). The astronomer-king himself taught mathematics inside these walls.
Tip: The inner courtyard is packed with suzani workshops; haggling is expected, not rude.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Caravanistan
Show on mapSher-Dor Madrasa · Registan
Lion-tigers with the sun on their backs: living figures on an Islamic portal, a gorgeous heresy.
Tip: The lions photograph best around 5pm, when the sun hits the portal head-on.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · National Geographic
Show on mapTilya-Kori Madrasa · Registan
'Gilded with gold': the inner dome is a golden spiral that looks flat and absolutely isn't.
Tip: Lay your phone flat on the floor facing up: you get the whole dome with zero camera shake.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapGur-e-Amir · Tamerlane's Tomb
Under this ribbed dome sleeps Tamerlane, beneath a slab of green jade. It inspired the Taj Mahal.
Tip: Come back after dark: it's floodlit and nearly empty. Ten minutes on foot from the Registan.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Lonely Planet
Show on mapRukhabad Mausoleum · Registan
'Abode of the spirit': a bare 14th-century brick cube, austere and older than everything around it.
Tip: It sits on the pedestrian walk linking the Registan to Gur-e-Amir — don't walk past it.
🚇 6 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapAk-Saray Mausoleum · Gur-e-Amir
Tucked behind Gur-e-Amir, an almost secret Timurid crypt with gold and lapis frescoes still intact.
Tip: The caretaker will unlock the underground crypt if you ask — carry small change.
🚇 3 min walk from Gur-e-Amir
Featured in: Caravanistan · Lonely Planet
Show on mapShah-i-Zinda · Necropolis
A sloping alley of turquoise mausoleums, one against the next. The most beautiful place in Samarkand.
Tip: Arrive at 8am: low light pours down the stairway and you'll have it to yourself.
🚇 Shodiyona bus stop · 6 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Condé Nast Traveler · TikTok viral
Show on mapShodi Mulk Oko Mausoleum · Shah-i-Zinda
The wildest portal in the necropolis (1372): carved majolica so dense it reads as lace.
Tip: Look closely: the inscriptions carry the master ceramicist's own signature.
🚇 Inside Shah-i-Zinda · on foot
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapShirin Beka Oka Mausoleum · Shah-i-Zinda
Tamerlane's sister rests here, under the first glass mosaic ever used in the necropolis.
Tip: It faces Shodi Mulk head-on: the two portals stare at each other — the shot writes itself.
🚇 Inside Shah-i-Zinda · on foot
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapUsto Ali Nesefi Mausoleum · Shah-i-Zinda
Signed by its architect — vanishingly rare in the 14th century: the master left his name on the portal.
Tip: It's on the upper stretch: keep climbing, hardly anyone makes it to the top.
🚇 Inside Shah-i-Zinda · on foot
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapShrine of Qusam ibn Abbas · Shah-i-Zinda
The 'Living King' the whole site is named after: the Prophet's cousin and the necropolis's pilgrim heart.
Tip: It's an active place of prayer: cover shoulders and knees, and keep quiet inside.
🚇 Inside Shah-i-Zinda · on foot
Featured in: UNESCO · Caravanistan
Show on mapBibi-Khanym Mosque · Old City
The most ambitious mosque of the Timurid empire — so vast it began collapsing almost as soon as it was done.
Tip: The marble Quran stand in the courtyard is 15th-century: three laps around it supposedly brings a child.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Lonely Planet
Show on mapBibi-Khanym Mausoleum · Old City
Across from the mosque, the tomb of Tamerlane's senior wife: small, silent and almost always empty.
Tip: The crypt with the sarcophagi is downstairs; the guard opens it on request.
🚇 2 min walk from Bibi-Khanym
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapHazrat-Khizr Mosque · Afrasiyab
On the lip of the Afrasiyab hill, with a carved wooden terrace looking out over the whole old town.
Tip: Best free sunset in town: the terrace looks straight down onto Bibi-Khanym.
🚇 Shodiyona bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · TikTok viral
Show on mapIslam Karimov Mausoleum · Afrasiyab
Uzbekistan's first president rests in brand-new white marble, beside the mosque of his home district.
Tip: Shoes off and no photos inside; outside you can shoot everything.
🚇 1 min walk from Hazrat-Khizr
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapUlugh Beg Observatory · Afrasiyab
The 11-metre sextant with which a 15th-century king measured the year to within 25 seconds.
Tip: The marble arc is underground: what you see up top is only the foundation ring.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 12 min
Featured in: UNESCO · National Geographic
Show on mapAfrasiyab Museum · Ancient Hill
The 7th-century Sogdian frescoes: Chinese envoys, elephants and camels painted before Islam arrived.
Tip: Ask them to switch on the lights in the fresco room, or you'll see it half-dark.
🚇 Shahi Zinda bus station · 8 min walk
Featured in: UNESCO · Lonely Planet
Show on mapAfrasiyab Ruins · Ancient Hill
2,750 years of city turned into earth mounds: this was the Samarkand that Genghis Khan flattened.
Tip: At sunset the earth turns orange and you can see all of Shah-i-Zinda from up there.
🚇 6 min walk from the Afrasiyab Museum
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapProphet Daniel Mausoleum · Afrasiyab
An 18-metre sarcophagus by the river: they say the prophet's body is still growing inside it.
Tip: Next door there's a spring and a thousand-year-old pistachio said to have revived after a blessing.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from Shah-i-Zinda · 8 min
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapGumbaz Synagogue · Jewish Quarter
The working synagogue of the old Bukharan Jewish quarter, hidden behind an unmarked gate.
Tip: Ring the bell: the caretaker lets you in and tells the quarter's story in Russian.
🚇 12 min walk from Shah-i-Zinda
Featured in: Caravanistan · Lonely Planet
Show on mapKhodja Abdu-Darun Complex · Southeast
A courtyard with a pool, giant plane trees and zero tourists: the locals' favourite cool refuge.
Tip: Sit under the plane trees at noon: it's the coolest spot in Samarkand come summer.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 10 min
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapIshratkhana Mausoleum · Southeast
A half-restored Timurid ruin with no tickets and no guides: the Samarkand almost nobody sees.
Tip: Pair it with Abdu-Darun: four blocks apart and hardly anyone does both.
🚇 4 min walk from Khodja Abdu-Darun
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Show on mapImam Maturidi Mausoleum · Old City
The theologian half of Asia's Islam still follows, in a new complex with a garden and a turquoise dome.
Tip: It's deep in a residential mahalla: use the excuse to wander the lanes around it.
🚇 10 min walk from Siyob Bazaar
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMausoleum of the Shaybanids · Registan
Half a block from the Registan and almost nobody notices: marble slabs of the dynasty that followed the Timurids.
Tip: Free to enter and always shaded: a good breather between madrasas.
🚇 2 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapKhoja Ahrar Vali Complex · South
Madrasa and mosque of the 15th century's most powerful Sufi, deep in the south with zero tour groups.
Tip: Friday noon it's packed with worshippers: come well before or after prayer.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 14 min
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapKhoja Abdi Berun Khanaka · South
A 17th-century courtyard with a pool, willows and a madrasa: one of the calmest corners in town.
Tip: Pair it with Khoja Ahrar: ten minutes apart by taxi.
🚇 Khoja Abdi Berun bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapNamazgah Mosque · South
The 17th-century open-air mosque where the whole city prayed on the great festival days.
Tip: The iwan keeps its original carved wooden columns — look up at the capitals.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from Gur-e-Amir · 7 min
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapChupan-Ata Hill · Northeast
The 'shepherds' father' hill, with its 15th-century mausoleum and the full sweep of the Zarafshan valley.
Tip: Climb it at a September sunset: the vineyards and melon fields glow gold below you.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 18 min
Featured in: Caravanistan · Instagram viral
Show on mapKonigil Meros · Craft Village
Watermill, mulberry trees and artisans: here they revived the Samarkand silk paper the Silk Road lost.
Tip: The full demo runs 20 minutes and costs nothing; you can buy the handmade sheets on the spot.
🚇 Konigil bus stop · 10 min walk
Featured in: National Geographic · Lonely Planet
Show on mapMeros Paper Mill · Konigil
The mill where the Mukhtarov brothers pound mulberry bark into paper exactly as they did in the 8th century.
Tip: Ask to polish a sheet yourself with the agate stone — it makes a great photo.
🚇 Konigil bus stop · 12 min walk
Featured in: National Geographic · Caravanistan
Show on mapThe Eternal City · Silk Road Samarkand
A 'historic city' built from scratch in 2022: Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand streets with 50 working workshops.
Tip: Go after 6pm: the whole thing lights up and the amphitheatre shows kick off.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 15 min
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler · TikTok viral
Show on mapSilk Road Samarkand · Resort Lake
The lakeside tourism complex: a waterfront promenade, design hotels and the Eternal City inside it.
Tip: Rent an e-bike at the gate: the lake loop is 3 km, perfect timing for sunset.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 14 min
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapMusical Fountain · Silk Road Samarkand
Jets, light and music over the lake every night: the plan every Samarkand family makes.
Tip: It starts at dusk; in late September that means around 7pm.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 14 min
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapAmphitheatre · The Eternal City
Open-air tiers inside the Eternal City: concerts, Uzbek dance and projections nearly every night.
Tip: The lineup changes weekly: ask at the main-gate box office.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapHovrenko Wine Factory · New City
Founded in 1868 by a Russian merchant: a wine museum, amber brandies and ten-glass tastings.
Tip: The tasting is cheap and it's ten wines and brandies — don't arrive on an empty stomach.
🚇 OVIR bus stop · 6 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · Caravanistan
Show on mapRegional History Museum · New City
A 1900 Jewish merchant's mansion with a carved courtyard; inside, Russian and Soviet Samarkand.
Tip: The painted-ceiling courtyard beats the collection: go in even if you skip the rest.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 8 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMuseum of Religious Tolerance · New City
Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism told in a single hall: Samarkand's many-faith story.
Tip: It's small and takes 40 minutes: ideal if rain catches you in the new city.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapSadriddin Ayni House Museum · Registan
The home of the father of modern Tajik literature, two blocks from the Registan and always empty.
Tip: Samarkand is as Tajik as it is Uzbek: listen to the bazaar chatter and you'll hear it.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapAmir Temur Statue · Old City
Tamerlane on his bronze throne, staring straight down the city he turned into the capital of the known world.
Tip: At night it's lit from below and looks colossal — a better shot than by day.
🚇 4 min walk from Gur-e-Amir
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapUniversity Boulevard · New City
A kilometre of pedestrian promenade with Silk Road sculptures, fountains and students at all hours.
Tip: At dusk it fills with families and ice-cream carts: this is the city's real nightlife.
🚇 University Boulevard bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapAlisher Navoi Central Park · New City
The classic Soviet-era park: giant plane trees, an old carousel and grandfathers playing chess.
Tip: In September they sell pomegranates and grapes at the gate — try husayni, the long ones.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapHamid Alimjan Musical Theatre · Old City
The city's Uzbek musical drama theatre, in a columned Soviet building a few steps from the Registan.
Tip: Tickets go on sale same-day at the box office and cost less than a coffee.
🚇 Afrasiab bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapEl Merosi Costume Theatre · New City
A theatrical parade of 2,700 years of costume: Sogdians, Timurids and Bukharans in silk and embroidery.
Tip: It runs 45 minutes with shows most nights; phone ahead the same day to book.
🚇 Zebo bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · Time Out
Show on mapPuppet Theatre · New City
Uzbek puppetry in a tiny theatre: it works without any language and kids are hypnotised.
Tip: Shows are mostly mornings and Sundays; just ask at the door.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapSamarkand Railway Station · North
This is where the Afrosiyob pulls in — the bullet train linking Tashkent to Samarkand in just over two hours.
Tip: Book Afrosiyob tickets days ahead: they sell out, especially in high season.
🚇 Tram · Temir yo'l vokzali stop
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapBotanical Garden · University
The university's botanical garden: dense shade, empty paths and air ten degrees cooler.
Tip: In September the pomegranate trees are loaded — the garden's best month.
🚇 University Boulevard bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapPark of Poets · Registan
Busts of Persian and Uzbek poets among fountains, right opposite the Registan: everyone's waiting spot.
Tip: From the back benches you get the classic shot of all three madrasas lined up.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapKok-Saray Palace Ruins · Registan
All that's left of Tamerlane's 'Blue Palace': just foundations, but emirs were crowned on this spot.
Tip: It's on the walk between the Registan and Gur-e-Amir: five minutes most people skip.
🚇 5 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapAncient Hammam Ruins · Shah-i-Zinda
At the foot of the Shah-i-Zinda stairway, a medieval bathhouse with its ceramic pipework still exposed.
Tip: Nobody stops here: it's on your left the moment you pass the entrance gate.
🚇 1 min walk from Shah-i-Zinda
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapChorsu Gallery · Registan
The 15th-century domed bazaar crossroads, now an Uzbek art gallery under a huge brick vault.
Tip: It's stuck to Sher-Dor and hardly anyone goes in: the acoustics under the dome are wild.
🚇 3 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan · Time Out
Show on mapIslam Karimov Museum · Old City
Marble, vitrines and state gifts: independent Uzbekistan's official story, free and air-conditioned.
Tip: Free and air-conditioned: the best refuge between Bibi-Khanym and the bazaar.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapNuriddin Basir Mausoleum · Afrasiyab
Known as Kutbi Chakhardakhum, a 14th-century mausoleum among low houses, off every circuit.
Tip: Getting here cuts through real mahallas — that's half the point.
🚇 7 min walk from Shah-i-Zinda
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapCaravan of Camels · Afrasiyab
Life-size bronze camels crossing the roundabout: the city's own monument to the Silk Road.
Tip: It's on the way to the Observatory: ask your driver to pull over for two minutes.
🚇 Shahi Zinda bus station · 6 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapAmusement Park · Bogishamol
Ferris wheel, rides and candy-floss stalls: where Samarkand's kids go at the weekend.
Tip: The Ferris wheel gives you the whole new city; it opens from the afternoon.
🚇 Tram · Choy Fabrika stop · 8 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapAfsona AquaPark · New City
Slides and pools in the middle of the new city: the lifesaver when Samarkand tops 35 degrees.
Tip: Open May to September: late September is usually the season's final week.
🚇 Oblastnaya Bolnitsa bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapSamDU Zoology Museum · University
Soviet vitrines of Central Asian fauna: snow leopards, saiga antelopes and a Caspian tiger.
Tip: It's inside the campus: ask at the gatehouse and they'll wave you through.
🚇 University Boulevard bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapSt Alexis Cathedral · New City
Red brick and onion domes: the Russian church of tsarist Samarkand, in the old colonial quarter.
Tip: The surrounding streets still hold the single-storey Russian courtyard houses — walk them.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 6 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapPlatan · New City
The new city's decades-old classic: a courtyard under giant plane trees and textbook Uzbek cooking.
Tip: Order the kazan kabob and sit outside: the plane-tree courtyard is the whole point.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapKarimbek · Gagarin St
A vast hall with live music and family-sized tables: this is where Samarkand throws its weddings.
Tip: Saturdays bring music and dancing all night; midweek it's quiet and cheap.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from the Registan · 12 min
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapSamarkand Restaurant · Mahmud Kashgari St
The institution of the Russian quarter: Uzbek, Russian and European on one menu since the eighties.
Tip: The lamb shurpa at lunch is the best value in the whole new city.
🚇 OVIR bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapEmirhan · Registan Rooftop
A rooftop terrace with the floodlit Registan behind you: Samarkand's most requested sunset table.
Tip: Book a Registan-side table for 6:30pm: the light show starts right after.
🚇 3 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice · TikTok viral
Show on mapOld City · Abdurahmon Jomiy St
A brick courtyard with carved ceilings and a long menu — one of the few with real vegetarian options.
Tip: Order the hand-pulled laghman: they'll stretch the noodles in front of you if you ask.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapBoulevard · University Blvd
Uzbek-European cooking with its own bakery: the students' favourite and Google's highest-rated too.
Tip: Have breakfast here before the monument circuit: it opens early and the coffee is decent.
🚇 University Boulevard bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapSirius · New City Rooftop
A rooftop with live music over the new city: international cooking and the best local wine list in town.
Tip: Ask for a Hovrenko red: it's the city's own winery and here they pour it by the glass.
🚇 Zebo bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapOasis Garden · New City
A walled garden with pergolas and a pond: half family restaurant, half escape from the afternoon heat.
Tip: The back section is far quieter — ask for it as soon as you walk in.
🚇 Gorodskoy Khokimiyat bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapZargaron · Bibi-Khanym
A terrace looking straight at Bibi-Khanym's dome: you come for the view more than the menu.
Tip: Come for tea and the sunset view only; for serious eating, cross to the bazaar.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapXan Atlas · Mahmud Kashgari St
Uzbek and Russian cooking in a room lined with ikat silk, warm service and neighbourhood prices.
Tip: The steamed manti come out fresh from 1pm onward — don't arrive earlier.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapShokhrukh Nur · Registan
A local canteen two blocks from the Registan where the guides eat: huge portions, local prices.
Tip: There's no English menu: point at what the next table is eating and you're sorted.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapLabi G'or · Registan St
A huge grill facing the Registan: charcoal shashlik, cold beer and tables packed every evening.
Tip: Order lamb shashlik by weight and watch the coals: they build it in front of you.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapOsh Markazi · Plov Centre
Samarkand plov done properly: unmixed layers, devzira rice and yellow carrot piled on top.
Tip: Plov is a lunchtime dish: after 2pm the kazan runs dry and they shut.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · Caravanistan
Show on mapBibikhanum Teahouse · Old City
A teahouse courtyard right beside the mosque: green tea in a piala and vine shade come September.
Tip: Come for the tea and the courtyard, not the food: best pause between mosque and bazaar.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapSayqali Teahouse · Islam Karimov St
A local teahouse with wooden tapchans: shoes off, cross-legged, green tea with sugar.
Tip: Tea is ordered by the pot, not the cup — and poured back three times before you drink.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapChorsu Teahouse · Registan
Next to the Chorsu dome and Sher-Dor: simple regional cooking and the closest shade to the Registan.
Tip: A good spot to wait out the light show: two minutes from the square.
🚇 3 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMuborak Teahouse · Jewish Quarter
A mahalla teahouse deep in the old quarter: men playing cards, a hissing samovar and absolutely zero tourists.
Tip: Walk in, say 'assalomu alaykum' and sit down — that's the whole protocol.
🚇 8 min walk from Shah-i-Zinda
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapRegistan Restaurant · Registan St
Directly opposite the square: Uzbek, Tajik and vegetarian dishes, and the handiest terrace on the circuit.
Tip: You pay for the location, not the kitchen: use it for tea and head back to the square.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapArirang · Registan St
Real Korean food in Samarkand: a legacy of the Koreans deported to Central Asia back in 1937.
Tip: The best break from plov after three days: tableside barbecue and vegan options too.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapIkrom Shashlik · Turkiston St
Twenty years of the same shashlik on the same grill out west: smoke, lamb and non bread.
Tip: It's far from the centre: the tram runs right past, so ride it back.
🚇 Tram · Sulim Yo'li stop · 6 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapKokand Samsa No.1 · South
Tandir samsa baked in a clay oven in full view: flaky dough, lamb and onion, nothing else.
Tip: They come out of the tandir every half hour: ask when the next batch is due and wait.
🚇 Kokandskiy bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapMerci · Orzu Makhmudov St
An improbable French bistro in Samarkand: real croissants, tarts and the new city's best brunch.
Tip: It sits on the Orzu Makhmudov pedestrian strip, the new city's trendiest food block.
🚇 Biblioteka bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Time Out · Instagram viral
Show on mapSangizar · Buyuk Ipak Yuli
A giant banquet complex with live music and room for 1,500 guests: contemporary Uzbekistan, full volume.
Tip: If a wedding is on, watch from a distance — they'll pull you in to dance anyway.
🚇 Tram · Merhabo stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapZilol Baxt · Old City
Straightforward regional cooking in a spacious hall, halfway between the Registan and the new city.
Tip: Good lunch stop on a bazaar day: it's right on the way back.
🚇 Spartak bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapKo'k-Saroy · Registan
Named after Tamerlane's lost palace and standing five minutes from where it actually stood.
Tip: Ask for chuchvara: those little dumplings in broth are the Uzbek winter dish par excellence.
🚇 Afrasiab bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapAfrasiab · Registan
A regional canteen on the walk linking the Registan to Gur-e-Amir: quick, cheap and always open.
Tip: Perfect for a short lunch between the Registan and Gur-e-Amir: fifteen minutes and you're off.
🚇 Afrasiab bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapSambusakhana · Registan
It's called 'house of samsa' and it delivers: tandir ovens, flaky pastry and Samarkand lamb.
Tip: Buy two and eat them walking to the Registan: samsa pastry survives the stroll.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapZarqand · Registan St
Half Uzbek, half European menu in a calm room, one block off the square and free of the crowds.
Tip: If the Registan is swamped with tour groups, duck in here: one block away, always a table.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapChaikhana · Siyob Bazaar
The bazaar teahouse: non bread straight from the oven, green tea and fruit barrows rolling past.
Tip: Order hot non with tea: it's the breakfast the bazaar traders actually eat.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapBobur Shashlik · Bibi-Khanym
A street grill beside Bibi-Khanym: charcoal lamb skewers with red onion and a splash of vinegar.
Tip: Two skewers and a non: the standard Samarkand lunch, and it costs pocket change.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapManti · Panjakent St
Steamed manti and nothing else, stuffed with lamb and onion, served with sour cream and black pepper.
Tip: Eat them by hand, in one bite, uncut: slice one and you lose all the juice.
🚇 Panjakent St bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapRuhobod Osh · Gur-e-Amir
Midday plov opposite the Rukhabad mausoleum: a street-facing kazan and plastic tables under the vines.
Tip: Go at 12 sharp: that's when the kazan lid comes off and the plov is at its peak.
🚇 4 min walk from Gur-e-Amir
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapFedya Shashlik · Mahmud Kashgari St
A local grill chain every Samarkander knows by its Russian name: cheap, fast and smoky.
Tip: Ask for jiz, fried in its own fat: that's what locals order, not the shashlik.
🚇 Oblastnaya Bolnitsa bus stop · 6 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMotrid Somsa · Panjakent St
Samsas from the Motrid quarter, the city's most famous: thin pastry, lots of juice, wood-fired oven.
Tip: Buy three: eat one there and the other two hold up until dinner easily.
🚇 Panjakent St bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapBuyuk Samarkand · Eternal City
A themed hall with eight-metre columns inside the Eternal City: national cuisine, fully staged.
Tip: Open till midnight: one of the few places in Samarkand where you can eat late.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapAfrosiyob · Eternal City
A themed restaurant riffing on Zoroastrian architecture: fire, brick and classic Uzbek cooking.
Tip: It's next to the amphitheatre: eat, then walk straight out to the show.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapManzara Teahouse · Eternal City
A three-terrace teahouse inside the Eternal City, specialising in Fergana plov served from the kazan.
Tip: Compare this plov with the Samarkand one: Fergana's gets mixed, Samarkand's never does.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapOlot Somsa · Eternal City
A teahouse doing Bukhara-style samsa: smaller and crisper than the Samarkand version.
Tip: It's beside the bread tandir: grab a samsa and a fresh non on the way past.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapZlata Brewery · New City
A working brewpub in the new city: draught lager, a loud room and the only craft beer downtown.
Tip: Uzbekistan is a tea country, not a beer one: this is one of the few decent taps in town.
🚇 Zebo bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapPravda Lounge · New City
A lounge with shisha, cocktails and a DJ: where Samarkand's twenty-somethings go out.
Tip: It starts genuinely late: before 10pm there's nobody there.
🚇 Zebo bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapEtlon Coffee · Mirzo Ulugbek St
The Uzbek specialty roaster that opened in Samarkand: pour-overs, V60 and fully traceable beans.
Tip: Order the filter of the day: it's the one thing they nail, and they know it.
🚇 Bagishamol bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor · Instagram viral
Show on mapCoffee Bar 39° · Registan St
A third-wave café three blocks from the Registan, named after the latitude, with real espresso.
Tip: It opens earlier than most of the centre: a good first coffee before the Registan.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapCoffee by Eclair · Registan St
French pastry and properly made coffee, on the same block as every new café in the old city.
Tip: The 30-block of Registan St packs four cafés: try two and compare on the spot.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapCaffetteria Artigianale · Registan St
Italian-style espresso in the middle of Samarkand: lever machine, small cups, no sugar bombs.
Tip: If you're coming from Europe and miss a decent ristretto, this is the place.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapSmash Coffee · Registan St
A small modern café on the way to the Registan: solid flat white and wifi that actually works.
Tip: A good place to charge your phone before a long afternoon of monument walking.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapJasmine Café · Registan
A shaded terrace café between the Registan and the boulevard: homemade cakes and house jasmine tea.
Tip: The back terrace opens onto a vine courtyard: in September it's heavy with grapes.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapAmericano · Registan St
Uzbekistan's most widespread coffee chain: cheap, fast and with the best pistachio ice cream downtown.
Tip: The ice cream costs less than the coffee and is what locals actually grab on the way past.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapElements 5 · Registan St
A design-led café one block from the Registan, big street windows and a decent in-house roast.
Tip: Take the window seat: you watch people climbing to the Registan — the best candid shot.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapSamarkind · Bibi-Khanym
A modern café steps from Bibi-Khanym: cakes, sandwiches and the old city's best coffee.
Tip: It's the only decent coffee between Bibi-Khanym and the bazaar: fuel up before Siyob.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapIkat · Bibi-Khanym
A café named after Uzbek silk and decorated to match, half a block from the Bibi-Khanym mosque.
Tip: Ask for the cardamom coffee: it's not on the menu but they'll make it.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapArt Cafe · Bibi-Khanym
The obvious stop between the Registan and Bibi-Khanym: regional cooking, coffee and pavement tables.
Tip: Perfectly placed between the two monuments: five minutes of shade and you carry on.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor
Show on mapMagistr · Bustonsaroy St
A café-restaurant between Gur-e-Amir and the Registan with an enormous menu: breakfast, pizza, ice cream.
Tip: It's the exact midpoint of the monument circuit: save it for the midday break.
🚇 Foreign Languages Institute bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapUvenue Coffee · University Blvd
The boulevard students' café: power sockets at every single table and honest campus prices.
Tip: Best place in town to sit with a laptop for a couple of hours.
🚇 Biblioteka bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapRêve Café · University
A tiny café next to the campus, homemade pastry and the best cappuccino in the university quarter.
Tip: It's next to the botanical garden: coffee first, shade after.
🚇 KhimFak bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapMone Cafe & Bakery · Orzu Makhmudov St
The trendy block's bakery-café: croissants, artisan ice cream and a display case emptied hourly.
Tip: Orzu Makhmudov is the new food pedestrian street: walk the whole thing, it's three blocks.
🚇 Biblioteka bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Time Out · Instagram viral
Show on mapAvesto Cafe & Bakery · New City
A bakery with a Zoroastrian name: Uzbek pastries, baklava and coffee to go at any hour.
Tip: Buy Samarkand halva here: sesame and pistachio, nothing like the Turkish kind.
🚇 Dvorets Molodezhi bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapChocolate Cafe & Bakery · New City
A chocolate and pastry shop midway between the boulevard and Gur-e-Amir: sweet and air-conditioned.
Tip: A perfect bolt-hole if the midday heat catches you walking to the mausoleum.
🚇 Foreign Languages Institute bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapHleb House · GUM
An artisan bakery inside the GUM: sourdough, Russian black bread and a smell you catch a block away.
Tip: It's the opposite of tandir non: try both breads the same day and compare.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Instagram viral
Show on mapChorrah Cafe & Bakery · Imam al-Bukhari St
A neighbourhood bakery on the way to Shah-i-Zinda: fresh non, samsa and coffee for pocket change.
Tip: Buy the stamped Samarkand non here: it's heavy, it dries and it survives the flight home.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapLike Cafe · Rudaki St
A huge café up north with an endless menu: breakfasts, pizzas and ice cream until the small hours.
Tip: It's near the railway station: perfect if you've got an early-morning Afrosiyob.
🚇 Tram · Rudakiy stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice
Show on mapSiyob Bazaar · Bibi-Khanym
Samarkand's great market, right beside Bibi-Khanym: melons, pomegranates, dried fruit and loose spices.
Tip: Late September is the season: mirzachul melon, husayni grapes and pomegranates fresh off the fields.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · National Geographic
Show on mapBread Bazaar · Panjakent St
Samarkand's non market: towers of stamped bread, the most famous loaf in all Uzbekistan.
Tip: Samarkand non dries but never rots: the one edible souvenir that genuinely travels.
🚇 Panjakent St bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: National Geographic · TikTok viral
Show on mapSouvenir Shop · Bibi-Khanym
Rishtan ceramics, Chust steel knives and embroidered doppi caps, right beside the Bibi-Khanym mosque.
Tip: Rishtan blue ceramics are the real thing: check the glaze has that uneven shine.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapSouvenir Stalls · Registan
The row of stalls between the Registan and Bibi-Khanym: suzani, miniatures and silk, all hagglable.
Tip: Open at half the asking price and settle around 60% — that's the normal rhythm here.
🚇 5 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapA-Nogris Workshop · Bibi-Khanym
A craft workshop beside Bibi-Khanym where you watch suzani being embroidered by hand, stitch by stitch.
Tip: A large suzani takes months of work: if it's cheap, it was made by machine.
🚇 Siab Bazaar bus stop · 4 min walk
Featured in: National Geographic · Caravanistan
Show on mapHappy Bird · Islam Karimov 43A
A textile design gallery-workshop: Uzbek ikat and adras turned into contemporary clothing, not souvenirs.
Tip: Adras is a silk-cotton blend: lighter than pure ikat and far more wearable.
🚇 5 min walk from the Registan
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler · Instagram viral
Show on mapAysel Gallery · Registan
Persian miniatures and contemporary Uzbek painting a block from the Registan, artist usually in-store.
Tip: The good miniatures are painted on Konigil silk paper — ask which paper it's on.
🚇 Registan bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapHudjum Silk Carpet Factory · East
Hand-knotted silk carpet looms: one square metre takes two women almost a year of work.
Tip: The workshop tour is free and no-obligation: walk in, watch the looms, leave if you want.
🚇 Shahi Zinda bus station · 5 min walk
Featured in: Lonely Planet · National Geographic
Show on mapGold Market · New City
A whole arcade of Uzbek jewellers: filigree earrings, bridal bangles and gold sold by the gram.
Tip: Silver filigree earrings are the good cheap souvenir: ask for 'kumush'.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapTilla-Kori Jewellery · New City
A jeweller named after the Registan's gilded madrasa, working with exactly those motifs.
Tip: Ask to see the enamel work: it's the Samarkand jewellers' speciality.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMakon Mall · New City
The new centre's mall: Turkish and Uzbek brands, a food court and air conditioning at full blast.
Tip: A solid rainy-day plan: currency exchange, local SIM and food court all on one floor.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapAtlas Mall · Buyuk Ipak Yuli
A western-side mall with a cinema, food court and arcade: where Samarkand families go on Sundays.
Tip: The tram stops at the door: the easiest trip to make from the centre without a taxi.
🚇 Tram · Buyuk Ipak Yo'li stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapFamily Park · Narpay St
Samarkand's newest mall, out on the western edge: a big supermarket, brands and pizza places.
Tip: Best supermarket for packaged dried fruit and spices to take home.
🚇 DSK bus stop · 5 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapShodiyona · Siyob Bazaar
A shopping centre glued to Siyob Bazaar: clothes, electronics and the perfect contrast with the market.
Tip: You'll find an Uzbek SIM card and currency exchange two steps from the bazaar.
🚇 Shodiyona bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapYangi Bozor · East
The east side's 'new market': where Samarkanders actually shop, no tourists and real prices.
Tip: Come early: farm fruit lands at 7am and by noon the good stuff is gone.
🚇 Yangi Bozor bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapMarmar Farmers' Market · New City
A farmers' market in the heart of the new centre: valley vegetables, cheeses and harvest grapes.
Tip: In September ask for husayni grapes and Khujand pomegranates: peak season, right now.
🚇 Khokimiyat bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapRailway Market · North
The market beside the railway station: dried fruit, spices and everything you buy before a journey.
Tip: Last stop before the Afrosiyob: load up on dried apricots and raisins for the ride.
🚇 Tram · Temir yo'l vokzali stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapAziz Bazaar · Bogishamol
A northern neighbourhood market of fruit and meat stalls: the everyday bazaar, no staging.
Tip: September melons cost half what they do at Siyob: take one back to your guesthouse.
🚇 Aziz Bazar bus stop · 1 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapO'zkitob Bookshop · New City
A state bookshop with the best Timurid history section in town and old Silk Road maps for sale.
Tip: They sell Persian miniature reproductions for very little: a better souvenir than a fridge magnet.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapKitob Olami Books · Bustonsaroy St
'The world of books': stationery, children's books and Samarkand postcards by local designers.
Tip: The new illustrated postcards beat the photo ones sold at the tourist stalls.
🚇 Foreign Languages Institute bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapQuruq Meva Dried Fruit · Southeast
A shop devoted entirely to dried fruit: Fergana apricots, green raisins, walnuts and toasted almonds.
Tip: Taste before you buy: they'll hand you samples of everything without being asked.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from Gur-e-Amir · 6 min
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapHouse Nature Honey · Southeast
A beekeeper with his own shop: cotton, acacia and mountain honey from the Zarafshan valley.
Tip: September is the cotton-honey harvest: the palest one, and the slowest to crystallise.
🚇 Yandex Go taxi from Shah-i-Zinda · 8 min
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapSam Craft Beer Shop · Registan
An Uzbek and Kazakh craft-beer bottle shop three blocks from the Registan: a genuine rarity here.
Tip: They also sell Hovrenko winery bottles, cheaper than at the factory itself.
🚇 Kulolon bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapSiluet · Uzbek Design
The atelier of an Uzbek designer working adras and ikat into contemporary cuts, not folkloric ones.
Tip: They'll make to measure in 48 hours if you bring your measurements on day one.
🚇 GUM bus stop · 3 min walk
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler
Show on mapSAG Carpets · Siyob Bazaar
Uzbek and Turkmen carpets by the Siyob bridge: wool, silk and kilims at wholesale prices.
Tip: Fold the carpet and check the knot density on the back: that's where the real price lives.
🚇 Siab Bridge bus stop · 2 min walk
Featured in: Caravanistan
Show on mapChorsu Bazaar · Eternal City
The Eternal City's craft bazaar: 50 ceramic, wood, paper and jewellery workshops on a single street.
Tip: The artisans work in the open here, and prices beat the Registan stalls.
🚇 Inside the Eternal City · on foot
Featured in: Condé Nast Traveler · TikTok viral
Show on map