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Places in this article: Samarkand
Silk Road Samarkand and the Eternal City: what is there and how to visit
Twenty minutes by car from 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 → a second Samarkand lights up every evening: turquoise domes, tiled portals and lanes of workshops along a rowing canal. This is A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. Samarkand, a 260-hectare tourist centre on the edge of the city, and its old-style quarter, the Eternal City, is where Samarkand's crafts keep working after dark.
We take our guests there often. Here is what is inside, how much time it deserves and how we fit it around the old monuments.
In short
- Silk Road Samarkand covers 260 hectares, 20 minutes by car from the Registan and 15 minutes from the airport.
- Its heart is the Eternal City: 11 hectares of lanes named after the regions of Uzbekistan, with more than 50 craft workshops.
- The 2.2 km rowing canal has boats, and the musical fountain is 125 m long with jets up to 55 m.
- Spend the day at the Registan 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 → then come here for the evening, when the lanes are lit.
- We add the Eternal City to our Samarkand tours, with a car, a master class or a folk show for groups.
Contents
What Silk Road Samarkand is
The complex lies on the edge of Samarkand, in the A village near Samarkand where paper is made by hand from mulberry bark, the old way, at a working mill on the stream. area. Inside are eight hotels with about 1,200 rooms, an eco village of 14 villas, a congress centre and the Eternal City. By car it is 20 minutes from the historic centre, 15 minutes from the international airport and 25 minutes from the railway station.
The congress centre has 18,000 m² of event space, and its Grand Hall seats 3,000 people. In autumn 2025 it hosted the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference, the first held outside Paris since 1985. If you are planning a conference or an incentive trip, read our page on corporate events in Uzbekistan.
The Eternal City: a street for every region
The Eternal City, Boqiy Shahar in Uzbek, covers 11 hectares. It was designed by the artist Bobur Ismoilov, who modelled its pavilions on houses and squares described in old books. Its streets are named after Samarkand, Bukhara, Fergana, Tashkent, Khorezm, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya and Karakalpakstan, and each is lined with the crafts of its region.
Samarkand, the central street, runs from a triumphal arch past the National Library and a puppet theatre, with embroiderers and costume makers on either side and Did you know? Legend: Samarkand bread can't be baked anywhere else Legend says a Bukhara ruler brought Samarkand's best baker to his court with his oven, flour and water, yet the bread came out different. The missing ingredient, the baker said, was the air of Samarkand. The round loaves keep for a long time. Read more → and samsa from the tandoor. Fergana Street brings carpets, satin and Rishtan ceramics. On Khiva Street you watch forged metalwork, woodcarving and the ceramics of Khanka and Gijduvan, and there is a chess school and a school of applied arts.
More than 50 workshops work here: woodcarving, ceramics, papermaking, jewellery and carpets. Master classes are booked in advance, and we arrange them for you. If crafts are the reason for your trip, read our guides to Uzbek carpets and Samarkand paper from Konigil.
The evening: canal, fountain and amphitheatre
The rowing canal is 2.2 km long, the only one of its kind in Central Asia. Six boats for 8 people, a 16-metre boat for 30 and two VIP boats for 20 sail on it. The musical fountain is 125 m long, with jets that reach 55 m, and it plays both Uzbek melodies and international hits.
The amphitheatre turns a full 360 degrees in 60 seconds. It holds open-air DJ nights and holiday concerts, and in August 2024 the Did you know? Samarkand’s “Melodies of the East” festival dates from 1997 The international music festival Sharq Taronalari, “Melodies of the East”, has been held in Samarkand every two years since 1997. For years its stage stood on the Registan, and UNESCO representatives traditionally attend as guests of honour. Read more → music festival was held here instead of the Registan. In the warm months, dancers and street performers work the lanes.
For dinner there are two restaurants open from 11:00 to midnight, a A teahouse: green tea, plov and conversation on wide wooden beds called topchan. serving samsa until 22:00 and a tandoor bakery from 8:00 to 20:00. A tasting hall pours Uzbek wines and cognacs from noon to midnight; for the vineyards themselves, see our Uzbek wine guide.
Is the Eternal City worth it?
Yes, as long as you know what it is. The Eternal City is new: a stage set built around working craftsmen. The real 14th- and 15th-century Samarkand is in the old town, at the Registan, Shah-i-Zinda and Gur-e-Amir.
So we keep the mornings for the monuments and bring guests here in the late afternoon. Two or three hours are enough for the workshops, a walk along the canal and dinner. Children enjoy it, because they can try a craft themselves; more ideas are in Uzbekistan with kids. The rest of the city after sunset is in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva at night.
How we organise your visit
Our Crafts of Bukhara and Samarkand tour, five days with a private guide, includes the Eternal City together with the Konigil .Did you know? Paper polished with stone, made to last 400 years At the Meros mill in Konigil, founded in 1996 to revive a craft that had died out, a water wheel beats mulberry bark into pulp, and each sheet is polished for hours with agate, shell or horn. It is made to last some 400 years. Read more → If you are short of time, Uzbekistan in 3 Days: Tashkent and Samarkand and the 8-day classic tour are easy to extend with an evening here: tell us when you book.
Already in Samarkand? We can send a car with a driver for the evening, book a walking tour of the old city with a guide for the morning and add a silk workshop. For groups and companies we organise a folk show. Everything else about the city is on our Samarkand page, and our office is on call 24/7 while you travel.
