Samarkand

What you actually see

The Registan is three madrasahs facing each other across one square, built across two centuries and covered in glazed tile. It is the photograph everyone has seen, and it is one of the few places that is genuinely better in person, because the tilework only resolves into pattern when you are close enough to see the individual pieces. Shah-i-Zinda, a narrow lane of tombs climbing a hillside, is the one most visitors say they did not expect.

Getting here

The Afrosiyob high-speed train from Tashkent takes about two hours and is the way we move every trip. It is comfortable, it is on time, and it removes the long desert drive that used to define this route. Samarkand to Bukhara is another eighty minutes on the same line.

A note on crowds

The Registan takes coach groups through the middle of the day. Our itineraries put it early or late, which is also when the tile goes from blue to violet as the light drops.

How long to give it

Two nights is enough for the Registan, Shah-i-Zinda and Gur-e-Amir without rushing. Three if you want the observatory and the bazaar at a normal pace.

When to go

Average daytime high, night-time low and rain days for Samarkand, from five years of recorded observations rather than a forecast or a brochure.

Comfortable months: Apr to May, Sep to Oct.