Places in this article: Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · Tashkent
New Year in Uzbekistan 2027: where to go and how to celebrate
At eight in the evening on 25 December 2024, the main New Year tree of Uzbekistan lit up in front of the National Library in Tashkent, and the capital slipped into a two-week holiday. Squares and parks fill with lights, and on the night of 31 December families sit down at home around one long table.
Thinking about New Year in Uzbekistan? Here is what the night looks like, what weather to pack for and where to spend it: Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent or the mountains. We live in Tashkent and run New Year tours to Uzbekistan every winter, so this is the same plan we give our own guests.
How Uzbekistan celebrates New Year
1 January is a public holiday, and New Year's Eve is above all a family night. It has been celebrated here since 1935, in Soviet times, and many of the customs have stayed. On the evening of 31 December families and close friends gather at home, see off the old year and wait for the chimes at midnight. The table is kept full on purpose, so that the coming year is full too: Olivier salad, tangerines and whatever the family cooks best.
Outside, the holiday is public and bright. In Tashkent the main tree traditionally stands on the square in front of the Alisher Navoi National Library. Last season the square was open every day from 25 December to 10 January, from 11:00 to 23:00, with concerts and shows, and about twenty more holiday venues opened across the city, from Magic City park to Tashkent City. Before the holiday a Santa Claus parade walks through the streets, and Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost, with his granddaughter Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, is still the star of children's parties.
1 January 2027 falls on a Friday, so the holiday runs straight into a weekend. Families from Tashkent travel too, which is why trains and hotels in Samarkand and Bukhara fill up in the last days of December.
Weather at the end of December and in early January
The turn of the year opens the coldest stretch of the winter. Average afternoon highs and night lows from the long-term climate normals (1991–2020); Khiva's figures come from the weather station in Urgench, 35 km away.
| City | December, day / night | January, day / night |
|---|---|---|
| Tashkent | 9 / 0 °C | 7 / −1 °C |
| Samarkand | 9 / 0 °C | 7 / −1 °C |
| Bukhara | 8 / −1 °C | 7 / −2 °C |
| Khiva | 4 / −4 °C | 3 / −6 °C |
Sunny days feel warmer than the numbers, and grey, damp days in Tashkent feel colder. Khiva is the real winter: dry, often clear, and in some years white, with snow on its clay walls and flat roofs.
These are also the shortest days of the year. On 1 January the sun rises over Tashkent at 07:47 and sets at 17:06; in Khiva both happen about 35 minutes later. We plan open-air sights from about nine until four, then museums, bazaars and a long dinner. Month by month in more detail: Uzbekistan in December and Uzbekistan in January.
Samarkand: New Year's Eve beside the Registan
Samarkand is our first choice for the night itself. In the evening the three madrasahs of the Did you know? The Registan's sun-carrying lion went on a banknote The Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636) is named for the big cats with the sun on their backs on its portal. The image appeared on the reverse of Uzbekistan's 200-som note of 1997. Read more → are lit up, and in winter the great monuments are quiet in the morning, so you can see ,Did you know? Timur's tombstone went to Persia and came back The dark-green jade slab on Timur's grave in Gur-e-Amir was carried off by Nader Shah in 1740. It broke, and on his advisers' urging he sent it back to Samarkand. Read more → Did you know? Legend says the architect asked the queen for a kiss Legend says the architect of Bibi-Khanym would finish on time only for a kiss from Timur's wife, and Timur punished him. In fact the mosque was Timur's own project; his wife Saray Mulk Khanum built her madrasah across the road. Read more → and Did you know? Why Shah-i-Zinda means 'the Living King' The necropolis grew around the shrine of Qutham ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Legend says he did not die in battle but went down a deep well to a garden of paradise, where he lives on. Read more → without crowds before the celebration begins.
Our New Year in Samarkand, 5 days tour is built around this. You arrive on 30 December and see the Registan lit up that evening. On 31 December come Gur-Emir, Bibi-Khanym and Shah-i-Zinda, and at night a festive dinner with a holiday programme. On 1 January, after the ,Samarkand's main bazaar, right next to Bibi-Khanym: Samarkand bread, dried fruit, nuts and halva. Read more → the fast train takes you to Bukhara for two calm days. For the square itself, read our guide to the Registan.
Bukhara: New Year in the old town
Bukhara is more compact. The old town is easy to walk, and the evenings gather around ,Did you know? Bukhara's ponds were once its water supply Pools like Lyabi-Hauz, dug around 1620 and 46 × 36 m, were the city's main source of water. Most were filled in during the 1920s–30s because they spread disease; Lyabi-Hauz survived. Read more → the pool ringed by teahouses and old mulberry trees. Our New Year in Bukhara, 4 days tour puts the festive night here: on 31 December you see ,The fortress-residence of the rulers of Bukhara on a high artificial hill: the oldest structure in the city. Read more → the ,Did you know? Diggers went 13 m down and never found its base The Kalyan Minaret of 1127 rises about 46 m, and an excavation reached 13 m without finding the bottom of its foundations. Genghis Khan reportedly ordered it spared. Read more → the Did you know? Buried in mud, this tomb escaped Genghis Khan The 10th-century Samanid Mausoleum, one of the oldest monuments of Islamic Central Asia, was covered by flood mud and sand before the Mongols came in 1220. Hidden for centuries, its brick lacework survived intact. Read more → and the ,Did you know? Under Bukhara's domes merchants changed money and gold Four 16th-century trading domes still stand over old crossroads. Toki Sarrafon was the money changers' dome, where merchants from India and China swapped coins; Toki Zargaron held jewellers' workshops, Toki Telpak Furushon sold caps. Read more → and in the evening there is a New Year's dinner with national cuisine and music.
On 1 January the fast train takes you to Samarkand for the Registan, and the trip ends on 2 January. It is the shortest of our New Year routes, made for anyone with only a few days off. You fly into Bukhara and out of Samarkand.
Tashkent: the main tree, lights and skating
If you would rather stay in the capital, Tashkent has the biggest celebration: the main tree and its stage by the National Library, lit parks across the city and public skating sessions at the Khumo Arena ice rink. During the day the ,Did you know? A metro designed to ride out a magnitude-9 earthquake The three original lines of the Tashkent Metro were built to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, and the tunnels lie unusually shallow, only 8–25 m below the street. Read more → the museums and the covered halls of Tashkent's old bazaar under a big blue-green dome, not far from Hazrati Imam. Bring cash in so'm. Read more → keep you out of the cold. Our guide to Tashkent in one or two days has a ready plan.
Tashkent is also the easiest base for the mountains: the ski slopes are 65–85 km away, close enough for a weekend on the snow between the holidays.
Khiva to Tashkent: the whole holiday week
To travel through the entire holiday week, take New Year in Uzbekistan, 8 days, which crosses the country from west to east. You land in Urgench on 27 December and spend two days in Khiva, inside the walls of .Did you know? People still live inside Khiva's museum city Itchan Kala packs more than 50 historic monuments and about 250 old houses inside clay walls 8–10 m high and 5–6 m thick, and families still live and work in its lanes. Read more → Then the road crosses the The Kyzylkum, or Red Sands: the desert between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that the road and the railway cross on the way to Khiva. desert to Bukhara. On 31 December the fast train brings you to Samarkand for the festive dinner, and the trip ends in Tashkent on 3 January.
Khiva in late December is the coldest point of the route, about 4 °C in the afternoon, and also the quietest. In some winters you see it under snow, a picture most visitors never get.
Snow for the holidays: Amirsoy and the Tashkent mountains
The ski season near Tashkent opens in December. Beldersay usually starts early in the month and Amirsoy in mid-December; the exact day depends on the snow. Amirsoy, 65 km from the city, has 11 easy and intermediate runs between 1,630 and 2,286 m, so it suits families and beginners. Beldersay has a longer vertical, from 1,506 to 2,307 m. At ,Mountains of the Western Tian Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → January averages about 1 °C in the afternoon and below −5 °C at night.
Our ski weekend in the Tashkent mountains is a private two-day trip: a transfer from your hotel, a night at the resort and help with passes, rental and an instructor. It fits before or after any of the New Year routes. For the whole area, see the mountains near Tashkent.
What to keep in mind
- Book early. Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure, so seats for 30 December open at the very end of October. We take bookings for our New Year tours up to 21 days before the start.
- Dress for zero. A winter coat, a hat, gloves and waterproof shoes with a good grip; thermal layers if you plan to be outdoors at midnight or on the slopes.
- Plan around the light. The sun sets soon after five, so open-air sights come first, museums and dinners later.
- Settle the night in advance. 31 December is a family night here, so we arrange the festive dinner ahead; on our New Year tours it is already included.
- Allow enough time. Four days cover Bukhara and Samarkand, five do the same at an easy pace, eight add Khiva and Tashkent. Add two days for the mountains.
Getting there: our New Year routes begin at the airport of the first city, Urgench for Khiva, or Bukhara, or Samarkand, and end at the airport of the last one. For the rest of the year's holidays and events, see festivals in Uzbekistan in 2027.
In short
- New Year's Eve here is a family night at home, while Tashkent's squares and parks stay lit from late December to about 10 January.
- Expect 7–9 °C in the afternoon in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, nights around zero or below, and sunset soon after 17:00.
- Samarkand for the night by the Registan, Bukhara for a short break, Khiva for the full winter route, Tashkent for the biggest lights.
- The ski season near Tashkent is open by New Year, with Amirsoy starting in mid-December.
- Book trains (60 days ahead) and our New Year tours (up to 21 days before the start) early.
© Photos
- Gondola cabins above the slopes of Amirsoy — Iplossusvulpes19 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
