Samarkand

The currency is the Uzbek som (UZS), in bills from 1,000 to 200,000, so count the zeros calmly at the counter. In 2026 the dollar is worth around 11,800 som and the Brazilian real somewhere near 2,200 som (check the day before). Since the 2017 currency liberalization there's no longer a black market: change money at a bank or an official exchange office and ignore anyone offering a better rate on the street. ATMs from Kapitalbank, NBU and Ipoteka accept Visa more often than Mastercard, and some dispense dollars. Real ranges: tea with bread at a chaikhana 10,000–15,000 som; a plate of plov 30–50 thousand; a meal at a neighborhood oshxona 40–70 thousand; dinner at a tourist-oriented restaurant 100–200 thousand; a guesthouse with breakfast 250–450 thousand a night; a four-star hotel 700,000 to 1.2 million. Cards work in hotels and restaurants in the center; the bazaar, street taxis and monument ticket offices want cash. There's no tipping tradition, and tourist restaurants already add a 10% service charge to the bill.

Airport: 6 km northeast, new terminal since 2022

Samarkand International Airport (SKD) has had a new terminal since March 2022, sits about 6 km northeast of the center and is a 15- to 20-minute taxi ride for 30,000–50,000 som. There are direct flights from Tashkent (1 hour), Istanbul, Dubai, Almaty, Moscow and Jeddah. The most common way to arrive, though, is by train, and it's the one I'd choose: the Afrosiyob (Talgo 250) covers Tashkent–Samarkand in 2 hours 5 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes, with economy at around 300,000 som in 2026, and continues to Bukhara in another 1 hour 30 minutes. The Sharq and Registon trains cover the same stretch in 3 hours to 3 hours 30 minutes for much less. Buy ahead at chipta.railway.uz or in the railway app. The station is about 5 km west of the Registan and requires a taxi on arrival.

Buses and trams, two thousand som a ride

Buses and trams run within the city; the tram service opened in 2017. A ride costs around 2,000 som, paid in cash or by card at the validator, and there is no integrated tourist ticket to buy. In practice, almost every visitor uses Yandex Go: urban rides cost 12 to 25 thousand som, with the fare fixed before boarding. A street taxi is any car that stops when you raise your hand. Always agree on the price beforehand, never afterward. The monumental center is walkable: from Registan to Bibi-Khanym and Siab bazaar is about 1 km along a pedestrian promenade; from there to Shah-i-Zinda, another 800 m. From Registan to Gur-e-Amir, it is 900 m in the opposite direction. Bicycles are rare and traffic makes little room for them; in summer, walk before 10am and after 5pm, avoiding the middle of the day.

Violent crime in Samarkand is very low, street theft is rare and walking at night through the center and along the Registan promenade is routine. The real risks are traffic, heat and the taxi without an agreed fare. Traffic: pedestrians don't have right of way, and crossing outside a crosswalk with lights is the main cause of accidents involving foreigners. Wait until the car has really stopped before trusting it. Heat: in July and August, 35–40 °C of dry air dehydrates you without warning, so that means 3 liters of water a day, a hat and a break from 12 to 4pm. Don't drink tap water; use bottled water, including for brushing your teeth if your stomach is sensitive. The most common scam is the taxi without an agreed fare, which triples at the end of the ride: settle the price before getting in or use Yandex Go. Changing money with strangers is illegal and hasn't been worth it since 2017. The police are visible and honest; carry a copy of your passport and keep the proof of accommodation, the registratsiya, which hotels and guesthouses issue automatically. Checks have become rare, but the rule is still in force. Photographing military installations and government buildings is forbidden, and that's a subject nobody here jokes about.

Non bread never goes face down

Non bread is torn by hand, never cut with a knife, never set down with the stamp facing down and never thrown away. Leave leftover bread on the low wall set aside for it, not in the trash.

The teacup comes half full

A cup filled to the brim is the polite way of saying it's time to go.

Shoes off in working mosques and in homes

At the Registan's museum-madrasas you don't need to take your shoes off; at Hazrat Khizr, at Khoja Doniyor, and in any home you're invited into, you do. Bring socks without holes.

Right hand for greeting, left over the heart

When greeting someone, shake with your right hand and bring your left to your heart; between men, the handshake often comes with both hands. Men don't offer their hand to a woman unless she offers first, and a slight nod of the head is enough.

Ask before photographing people

At the bazaar people almost always agree with a gesture; older women tend to say no, and the no is final. Avoid photographing official buildings, barracks, and police posts.

Haggling has its place

Suzanis, rugs, ceramics and knives are negotiable, and the first price usually comes down 20–30%. Bread, fruit and food at the Siab bazaar have fixed prices, and haggling there comes across badly.

Samarkand as a day trip from Tashkent

Doing Samarkand as a day trip from Tashkent. The hours disappear fast: a same-day round trip on the Afrosiyob leaves about five hours in the city, and just the Registan–Bibi-Khanym–Shah-i-Zinda triangle eats up all of it.

Buying the Afrosiyob at the last minute

Buying a train ticket the same day. In high season (April–May, September–October) the Afrosiyob sells out one to two weeks in advance, and what's left is the slow train or a 4-hour shared taxi.

Carrying only a card

Carrying only a card. The nearest ATM could be 2 km from where your card fails, so always bring cash. The Siab bazaar, street taxis, monument ticket booths, and neighborhood chaikhanas only take cash.

Scheduling the Registan for midday

Seeing the Registan at midday, when the head-on light flattens the three tiled facades, which are exactly what you come to see. Arrive at 8am, at opening, or come back around 6:30pm, when the low sun hits the facades.

Assuming everyone speaks Uzbek

Assuming everyone speaks Uzbek. In Samarkand, Tajik is the home language for a large share of the population, and Russian is the common language across generations. To say thank you, “rahmat” works in Uzbek and in Tajik; in Russian you say “spasibo.”

Assalomu alaykum

“peace be upon you,” the standard greeting (ah-sah-LOH-moo ah-lay-KOOM)

Rahmat

thank you: works in both Uzbek and Tajik (RAKH-maht)

Kechirasiz

excuse me, sorry (keh-chee-rah-SEEZ)

Qancha turadi?

how much does it cost? (KAHN-chah too-rah-DEE)

Yo'q, kerak emas

no, I don't need it: the polite refusal at the bazaar (YOHK, keh-RAHK eh-MAHS)

Bir piyola choy

one cup of tea (beer pee-yoh-LAH choy)

The Zarafshan valley and its water

Samarkand sits about 700 m above sea level, on terraces of the valley of the Zarafshan, a river that comes down from the Turkestan mountains and disappears into the desert before reaching the Amu Darya. The water is all mountain water, and all channeled, and the Siab canal is the reason a city exists at this spot. The climate is continental semi-arid: summers of 35–40 °C with no rain, winters of 0–8 °C with occasional snow, and about 330 mm of rain a year, concentrated between November and April.

Layers of the city: Afrasiab, Timurid, and Russian

Samarkand has three layers, from north to southwest. To the north is the Afrasiab plateau, where the ancient city stood until 1220, today an open expanse you can walk across. In the middle, around the Registan, are the Timurid complexes and the mahallas, with windowless mud walls and Tajik spoken at home. To the southwest, the district planned by Russian engineers after 1871 has fan-shaped avenues, wide streets and plane-tree shade laid out on purpose.

The Zarafshan mountains and the Takhtakaracha pass

The Zarafshan mountains show up to the south on clear days and mark the Takhtakaracha pass, at 1,675 m, where the road to Shakhrisabz crosses.

Uzbek on the signs, Tajik in the old city's speech

Samarkand is bilingual in a way that doesn't show on the signs. Uzbek is the official language and has been written in the Latin alphabet since 1993, with Cyrillic still on walls and menus, but much of the old city speaks Tajik, a form of Persian, at home, and Russian remains the everyday language of commerce across generations. Islam here is Sunni of the Hanafi school, practiced quietly: the Registan's madrasas are museums, and the neighborhood mosques are the ones in actual use. Until the 1970s there was a large Bukharan Jewish community around Khudjum Street, with the Gumbaz synagogue (1891) still standing; nearly all of it emigrated after 1991.

Shashmaqom and the six maqams

The local classical music is shashmaqom, a cycle of six maqams sung with tanbur, doira, and ghijak, recognized by UNESCO in 2003. At weddings, though, what you hear at the door is the karnay, a straight horn up to two meters long, with surnay. The living crafts have addresses: suzanis embroidered in basma stitch, mulberry paper remade in Konigil village since the 1990s by the Mukhtarov family following an 8th-century technique, and turquoise-glazed ceramics. The city has also made wine since 1868, when the merchant Dmitri Filatov opened the factory now known as Khovrenko, which keeps a tasting room.

The mahalla and the night that ends early

Life in the old city is organized around the mahalla, the neighborhood of windowless mud walls where Tajik is spoken at home, and it's there that, at Navruz, people cook sumalak, a wheat-sprout paste stirred all night long in a communal cauldron. The street, on the other hand, turns in early: around 10pm the center empties and only the shashlik embers are left, and the evening program comes down to the lit-up Registan and the Silk Road Samarkand complex.

Samarkand, by Amin Maalouf (1988)

A novel that follows the manuscript of Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat from the 11th century to the sinking of the Titanic. It explains the city's Persian and scientific side better than any guidebook.

The Lost Heart of Asia, by Colin Thubron (1994)

A journey through Central Asia right after the fall of the USSR. The Samarkand chapter shows a city caught between Soviet restoration and a newly invented country.

The Star of Ulugbek, by Latif Faiziyev (1964)

A film from the Uzbekfilm studio about the astronomer-ruler and his fall in 1449, shot at the actual monuments before the major restorations.