# Samarkand: map, what to do and when to go

Samarkand has three cities side by side: the blue-tile Timurid complexes, the Tajik-speaking mahallas, and the 1871 Russian colonial city. It sits in the Zarafshan valley, in Uzbekistan, and was the capital of Timur's empire starting in 1370.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Samarkand: Do you need to buy the Afrosiyob train ticket in advance?** Yes, in high season: in April, May, September, and October the Afrosiyob sells out one to two weeks ahead, and what's left is the slow train or the 4-hour shared taxi.
- **Samarkand: What's the local currency?** The currency is the Uzbek som (UZS), in notes from 1,000 to 200,000, so count the zeros calmly at the counter.
- **Samarkand: What's the best time to go?** April and May are the best window: 20 to 28 °C, apricot and pomegranate trees in bloom, everything open.

## The Timurid axis
8am: Registan at opening, before the heat and the tour buses. Admission around 100,000 som; step into Tilya-Kori's gold hall and look up at the sun-tigers on the Sher-Dor's facade.
- Gur-e-Amir

## Afrasiab, the bazaar, and the stars
Start at 8am at the Bibi-Khanym mosque and look for Ulugh Beg's marble lectern in the courtyard.
- Bibi-Khanym mosque
- Shah-i-Zinda
- Ulugh Beg's observatory
- Afrasiab Museum
- Siab bazaar
- Hazrat Khizr mosque and Islam Karimov's mausoleum

## Crafts, villages, and the last light
At 9am, go to the village of Konigil, 8 km northeast, where the Meros workshop makes mulberry paper again with a water mill, following the 8th-century technique.
- Registan square
- Khoja Doniyor mausoleum
- Eternal City (Abadiy Shahar)

## Registan square
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-praca-do-registan
Samarcanda
Three madrasas facing each other: Ulugh Beg (1417–1420), Sher-Dor (1619–1636), and Tilya-Kori (1646–1660). The Sher-Dor's facade carries tigers with suns on their backs, animal figures rare in Sunni Islamic art. Admission runs around 100,000 som (2026); the Tilya-Kori's gold hall is the most elaborate interior in the city.
Check access

## Gur-e-Amir
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-gur-e-amir
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
A mausoleum finished in 1404 for Muhammad Sultan, Timur's late grandson, and occupied by Timur himself in 1405. The ribbed dome has 64 ribs. The tombstone, of dark green jade, was a single slab until 1740, when Nadir Shah tried to take it to Persia and it broke in two; the repair is still visible today. The grave was opened by the anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov on June 21, 1941.
Check access

## Bibi-Khanym mosque
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-mesquita-bibi-khanym
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
Built between 1399 and 1404 with the spoils of Timur's Indian campaign. It was too ambitious for the engineering of the time and began collapsing within decades; the heavy reconstruction dates from 1974 onward. In the courtyard stands the marble lectern commissioned by Ulugh Beg.
Check access

## Shah-i-Zinda
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-shah-i-zinda
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
A narrow uphill lane of mausoleums, from the 11th to the 19th centuries, built around the tomb of Kussam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. It's the best-preserved tile complex in the city. Count the steps going up and coming down: if you get the same number, custom says, you're an honest person.
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## Ulugh Beg's observatory
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-observatorio-de-ulugh-beg
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
Built in the 1420s on a hill to the northeast. Of the 40 m-radius meridian sextant, the section cut into the rock survives, with about 11 m exposed. The Zij-i Sultani catalog (1437) fixed 1,018 stars. The ruins were identified in 1908 by Vasily Vyatkin, who is buried on the site.
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## Afrasiab Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-museu-de-afrasiab
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
Holds the 7th-century Sogdian murals uncovered in 1965 during road works: a whole wall showing Chinese, Korean, and Turkic envoys before King Varkhuman. It sits at the edge of the plateau where the ancient city stood, now open ground you can walk across.
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## Siab bazaar
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-bazar-de-siab
Samarcanda
The main market, next to Bibi-Khanym, under a covered structure from the 2000s. This is where you buy the stamped non still warm, dried apricots, green raisins, kurt (a small ball of salted dried curd), navat (sugar crystal), and spices. Food prices are fixed; it opens around 6am.
Check access

## Hazrat Khizr mosque and Islam Karimov's mausoleum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-mesquita-hazrat-khizr
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
The mosque, on the south edge of Afrasiab, is a 19th-century rebuild on 8th-century foundations and has the most photographed wooden veranda in the city. Next to it stands the tomb of Islam Karimov (1938–2016), Uzbekistan's first president, open to the public since 2017 and with a steady line of local visitors.
Check access

## Khoja Doniyor mausoleum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-mausoleu-de-khoja-doniyor
Samarcanda · Up to half an hour
On the bank of the Siab river, below Afrasiab. Houses an 18 m cenotaph linked to the prophet Daniel; local legend says the body keeps growing, which is why the sarcophagus was extended over time. It's visited by Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike, and has a spring and an old mulberry tree beside it.
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## Eternal City (Abadiy Shahar)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/samarcanda/#g-lugar-cidade-eterna
Inside the Silk Road Samarkand complex, opened in 2022 east of the center: about 2 km of stage-set city with ceramics, silk, paper, and sweets workshops, regional restaurants, and open-air theater. It's a set built in 2022 and works as an evening plan; for history, go to the Timurid monuments.
Check access

**Samarkand: Do you need to buy the Afrosiyob train ticket in advance?**
Yes, in high season: in April, May, September, and October the Afrosiyob sells out one to two weeks ahead, and what's left is the slow train or the 4-hour shared taxi.

**Samarkand: What's the local currency?**
The currency is the Uzbek som (UZS), in notes from 1,000 to 200,000, so count the zeros calmly at the counter.

**Samarkand: What's the best time to go?**
April and May are the best window: 20 to 28 °C, apricot and pomegranate trees in bloom, everything open.

**Samarkand: What etiquette applies to non bread at the table?**
Non bread is torn by hand, never cut with a knife, never set down stamp-side down, and leftovers are never thrown in the trash. Leave leftover bread on the little wall set aside for that, not in the garbage.

**Samarkand: Is it safe to walk around the center at night?**
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.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 2 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/samarcanda/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/samarcanda/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/samarcanda.md