Best time to visit Samarkand
Uzbekistan · Caucasus and Central Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Samarkand
Tap a month for its page
- JanJSamarkand in January: ok
- FebFSamarkand in February: ok
- MarMSamarkand in March: good
- AprASamarkand in April: sweet spot
- MayMSamarkand in May: sweet spot
- JunJSamarkand in June: avoid
- JulJSamarkand in July: avoid
- AugASamarkand in August: avoid
- SepSSamarkand in September: sweet spot, busy
- OctOSamarkand in October: good, busy
- NovNSamarkand in November: good
- DecDSamarkand in December: ok, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
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Things to do in Samarkand
- Gur-e-Emir Mausoleum The warlord Timur or Tamerlane…
- Bibi-Khanym Mosque Named after the principal wife of Timur…
- Shah-i-Zinda Ensemble Necropolis ranged over a small hill south of Afrosiab…
- Afrosiab This was the earlier site of Samarkand…
- Al-Bukhari Mausoleum Al-Bukhari or Buxori (810-870 AD) compiled a Hadith…
- Khazrat-Khizr Mosque This was built from 1855 over much earlier foundations: first was a Zoroastrian temple…
- Tomb of Prophet Daniel The Prophet Daniel is a mythical figure…
Tours and tickets in Samarkand
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Samarkand), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8° | 6d | 70% | 6.3h | ok | 8C max, 6 rainy days |
| Feb | 11° | 8d | 70% | 6.6h | ok | 11C max, 8 rainy days |
| Mar | 16° | 11d | 69% | 7.9h | good | 16C max, 11 rainy days |
| Apr | 21° | 7d | 63% | 9.8h | sweet spot | 21C max, 7 rainy days |
| May | 28° | 6d | 50% | 11.6h | sweet spot | 28C max, 6 rainy days |
| Jun | 34° | 0d | 31% | 13.3h | avoid | extreme heat: 11 days over 35C |
| Jul | 37° | 0d | 25% | 13.3h | avoid | extreme heat: 23 days over 35C |
| Aug | 35° | 0d | 27% | 12.9h | avoid | extreme heat: 15 days over 35C |
| Sep | 30° | 0d | 32% | 11.4h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Oct | 22° | 4d | 49% | 9.2h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Nov | 14° | 5d | 64% | 7.5h | good | 14C max, 5 rainy days |
| Dec | 9° | 6d | 70% | 6.3h | okbusy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at the Registan, 5 km from the airport (SKD): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Samarkand's February days now average 11.0°C, 4.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 10 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 4.7° | 6.2° | 11.7° | 18.7° | 24.3° | 30.2° | 32.4° | 31.3° | 26.7° | 19.1° | 13.8° | 7.0° |
| 2017–26 | 7.9° | 11.0° | 15.9° | 21.5° | 27.6° | 33.8° | 36.9° | 34.5° | 29.8° | 21.7° | 14.3° | 9.1° |
| Change | +3.1° | +4.8° | +4.2° | +2.8° | +3.3° | +3.7° | +4.5° | +3.2° | +3.1° | +2.6° | +0.5° | +2.1° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Samarkand is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Delhi
- from Ahmedabad
- from Dubai
- from Abu Dhabi
- from Doha
- from Mumbai
- from Riyadh
- from Hyderabad
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Samarkand, flying or not.
Before you go
Type C and F and I plugs at 220 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Uzbek som. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for Uzbekistan: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Cash (som) still rules at bazaars and street stalls; cards, Visa more than Mastercard, work in most larger shops, hotels and restaurants, often with a 1% surcharge.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Getting around Samarkand
- Apps — Rides: MyTaxi, Yandex Go. Maps: 2GIS, Yandex Maps. Messages: Telegram, WhatsApp. If Yandex Go will not install on your phone, Yango is the same service and works here.
The main sights of Samarkand are in two nearby clusters: Gur-i Amir and the Registan, and Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Shah-i Zinda, and Afrosiyab. It's simplest to walk between all of these. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Samarkand, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — 112 (any emergency) · police 102 · ambulance 103 · fire 101.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (13)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/uzbekistan/getting-help
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Uzbekistan
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tashkent
- atto.uz/en/news/atto-for-passengers
- atto.uz/en/passengers
- uzbekistan.travel/en/i/travel-tips
- go.yandex/en_uz
- caravanistan.com/transport/taxi-apps
- caravanistan.com/money/uzbekistan
- caravanistan.com/phone-internet/uzbekistan
- techjury.net/research/market-share-of-messaging-apps-by-country
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Samarkand in pictures
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Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Екатерина Борисова, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Aleksandr Zykov from Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Adam Harangozó, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Samarkand is like
Samarkand is the city that is the bejewelled crown of the Silk Road, a rhapsody of ornate Islamic architecture with turquoise domes and soaring tiled minarets. It's one of the twin pillars of the Samarkand through Bukhara region of Uzbekistan, and a must-see destination. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Registan. This magnificent square is the defining image, not only of Samarkand but of the whole Silk Road. It's lined by three madrasahs, all with grand portals and richly adorned. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- The Eternal City is an island with buildings built in an authentic style, including shopping pavilions and restaurants. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Samarkand Airport (SKD IATA). This has daily flights from Moscow (several airports), Saint Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi, less often from Almaty, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi. Uzbekistan Airways are the main carrier. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Samarkand, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Samarkand
Also in Uzbekistan
Nearby
Kind of place
Samarkand is in Uzbekistan, Caucasus and Central Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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