Uzbekistan tours from Spain: Clavijo’s Samarkand, flights, visa-free entry and the best weeks of 2027

The embassy sailed through the Mediterranean to Constantinople, crossed the Black Sea to Trebizond and went on overland through northern Iran. Six elephants carrying wooden castles met the Castilians at Samarkand. Timur received them in a garden, sitting by a fountain, in a silk robe and a hat set with rubies and pearls.

What Clavijo describes next is a city being built in a hurry. Timur had begun the great mosque now called Bibi-Khanym in 1399, and its main structure stood by 1404. Clavijo recorded that Timur found the first gateway much too low and had it demolished; too weak to walk, he had himself carried to the site every day and tossed coins to the masons who pleased him. Outside the city, on the Khan-i-Gil meadow, the envoys were feasted among silk pavilions, and Clavijo noted the entrance of Timur’s chief wife, Saray Mulk Khanum, in red silk and a white veil, her face whitened against the sun. The full story of the mosque is in our article on Bibi-Khanym.

The embassy left Samarkand on 21 November 1404 and was home in March 1406. Clavijo died in Madrid in 1412 and was buried in the convent of San Francisco. His account was published in 1582 by the Seville scholar Gonzalo Argote de Molina, and it is still read today as Embajada a Tamorlán.

On the way to Samarkand, Clavijo stopped in Kesh, Timur’s home town, now Shahrisabz. He was told that Timur’s palace, Ak-Saray, had been under construction for twenty years, and the craftsmen were still at work. He describes a very high portal, an entrance passage faced with blue tiles, a gateway worked in gold and blue and a vast courtyard paved with white flagstones.

Two pylons of that gate are left, still about 38 metres high, and the blue is still on them. Shahrisabz is about 90 km from Samarkand over the Takhtakaracha pass, a day trip: book our trip to Shahrisabz with a guide, transfer and tickets, and read our articles on Ak-Saray and the Shahrisabz day trip.

We have built a private tour on the envoy’s pages: In the Footsteps of Clavijo, eight days through Tashkent, Samarkand, Shahrisabz and Bukhara, with a Spanish-speaking guide.

In the 2026/27 winter timetable there is no nonstop flight from Spain to Uzbekistan. From Madrid, Uzbekistan Airways sells through tickets via Istanbul to Tashkent, Samarkand and Urgench, the airport for Khiva. Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul to Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench, so from Barcelona and other Spanish cities, Istanbul is the usual place to change. Airports and connections are in our guide to flights to Uzbekistan.

Tashkent is on UTC+5 all year, with no summer time: four hours ahead of Madrid in winter and three in summer, five and four hours ahead of the Canary Islands. Arrival times vary with the connection, so we plan your first day around your actual flight and can arrange fast-track passport control and a car to your hotel.

You book the flight, and we arrange everything on the ground: hotels, train tickets, guides and transfers.

Clavijo’s route, 8 days. Tashkent, Samarkand, a day in Shahrisabz and two nights in Bukhara on In the Footsteps of Clavijo. Without Bukhara it takes six days.

The classic route, 8 or 11 days. Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva on the 8-day classic tour, or at an easier pace on the 11-day classic tour. How we lay out such trips is in Uzbekistan in 7 days and Uzbekistan in 10 days.

Archaeology and wine. The digs of Samarkand and Bukhara on Sogdiana Unearthed; two wineries, outside Tashkent and outside Samarkand, on Wine Uzbekistan.

Your guide speaks Spanish, and that is included in the price of our tours: tell us when you book, the earlier the better. For what applies to all of Europe, see Uzbekistan tours from Europe; not sure which route fits, try our tour finder.

Holy Week. Good Friday is 26 March 2027, and Easter Sunday 28 March. The week starts on 21 March, the day of Navruz, the spring new year, a public holiday in Uzbekistan; in 2027 it falls on a Sunday, and the day off is expected on Monday 22 March. Late March is cool and fresh, about 14–17 °C in the afternoon, with almonds and apricots in blossom: pack for rain. More in Uzbekistan in March and Navruz.

August. If your holiday is in August, as for most of Spain, expect 33–36 °C in the afternoon and almost no rain. We plan the sightseeing for the mornings and evenings, and the old towns are at their best after sunset; see Uzbekistan in August. September and October are cooler and among the best months.

Long weekends. 12 October 2027 falls on a Tuesday and 1 November on a Monday. In December, 6 and 8 December are a Monday and a Wednesday: with a few days of leave that makes a full week, in the low season, at about 8–9 °C in the afternoon. Each region adds its own holidays, so check yours. Month by month: October, December and when to go.

• At the table. Uzbek food is built around meat, mostly mutton, and around rice and bread. Plov is a midday dish: by evening the best cauldrons are empty. Tell us about allergies and diets, and we take them into account; see Uzbek cuisine and plov. Near Samarkand you can add a tasting at the Bagizagan winery.
• Cards and euros. Visa and Mastercard work at most card terminals in hotels, restaurants, shops and stations. Banks and exchange offices change euros as easily as dollars; take your passport. Cash, in so’m, is for bazaars and street stalls. See cards, cash and tipping.
• Plugs. Sockets are types C and F at 230 V, the same as in Spain: no adapter needed.
• Phone. Roaming works, and a local SIM card is sold against your passport. For a one- or two-week tour your phone needs no registration; see bringing a phone to Uzbekistan.
• Water. Drink bottled water; it is sold everywhere.
• At mosques and shrines. Cover shoulders and knees; women may want a scarf. More in what to wear.