All Samarkand Tours & Excursions in 2026

Olimjon was a first class guide. He speaks perfect English and planned the tour to perfection. It was well paced even though we visited many of the cultural sights in Samarkand. Olimjon has a wealth of knowledge about the history of Samarkand and quirky legends of the city too. He took the best pictures for us too and knows the best spots to take them. Highly recommended, 100%! Rakhmat, Olimjon!

If you still not 100% sure about this trip, here is the missing piece to book it: It is absolutely worth it. We, my girlfriend and I, were lucky and nobody else booked in this time slot and therefore got a private tour. We were picked up around 6 at our hotel and brought to the border. The border police guys are friendly and it doesn’t take long (UK peeps need an online visa which takes several days, EU does not and passport is enough) . On the other side you get picked up by a very good and experienced driver, who speaks very little English, but Russian and Tadschik. You spent the day with him. We went to a bazaar and changed money from Uzbek Som to the Tadschik currency. I changed 300k to 210 Tadschik Somoni. We had breakfast in Pandschakent (20 Somoni) and after the lakes we had lunch for 70 Somoni. 200 Somoni should be enough in our view for 2 people. Maybe check the exchange rates the day before, to get an idea. The lakes are beautiful especially number 7. Overall, you get an insight into one of the most traditional and isolated places in Central Asia. We’d highly recommend it.

Excellent from start to finish, communication was spot on, friendly, helpful and in the day the guide Usman was spot on. He was fun, engaging, knowledgeable, etc. Good pace, also helped us with some ideas of what to see for our free spare day we had. Totally recommend.