Skip to content
MASA
Itineraries

A Rainy Day in Samarkand: The All-Indoor Route

Samarkand, UzbekistanMay 6, 20252 min read
By MASA Editors
ShareWhatsAppXFacebook
A gilded and blue-tiled prayer hall interior in Samarkand, its arched mihrab niche framed by dense geometric and floral patterning01
A gilded and blue-tiled prayer hall interior in Samarkand, its arched mihrab niche framed by dense geometric and floral patterningPhoto: Catherine Zaidova / Unsplash

Samarkand's weather turns in spring and winter, and its greatest interiors are gilded, tiled and gloriously dry. Here is a full day routed through domes, museums and a covered bazaar.

Rain is not the usual Samarkand image, but the city gets it — mostly between late autumn and early spring — and a wet day here is no disaster. The Timurid monuments were built to be entered, the bazaar is covered, and the museums are genuinely good. This route keeps you under a roof almost all day.

Key facts

  • Where: Samarkand, Uzbekistan
  • Wet months: roughly November to April; summers are dry and very hot
  • Getting around: taxis are plentiful and cheap; app-based rides are widely used
  • Note: opening hours shift by season, so confirm on the official sites before setting out

9:00 — The Registan interiors

Start where the roofs are best. The three madrasahs around the square each open into courtyards and chambers, and the northern one contains a prayer hall lined with gold leaf over deep blue — the single most spectacular interior in the city. The former student cells now house craft workshops, so you can move from room to room in the dry, watching miniature painting, ceramics and embroidery.

11:00 — Gur-e-Amir

A short ride away, the mausoleum of Amir Timur is compact, richly decorated and entirely indoors once you are through the entrance portal. The vaulted chamber with its gilded ceiling takes twenty minutes to absorb and rewards standing still.

The Sher-Dor Madrasah at the Registan in Samarkand, its great mosaic portal flanked by ribbed minarets under a blue sky
The Sher-Dor Madrasah at the Registan in Samarkand, its great mosaic portal flanked by ribbed minarets under a blue skyPhoto: Aleksander Stypczynski / Unsplash

12:30 — Lunch on the Silk Road menu

Break for plov, the rice-and-lamb national dish, or lagman noodles and samsa baked in a tandoor. Restaurants near the Registan and along the pedestrian street are used to visitors and have proper indoor dining rooms.

14:00 — Afrasiyab Museum

Built beside the ruins of ancient Samarkand, this museum holds the city's archaeological story, including the celebrated seventh-century wall paintings of ambassadors and processions. It is quiet, well-lit and exactly what a wet afternoon needs.

15:30 — Siyob Bazaar

The main market beside the Bibi-Khanym Mosque is largely covered. Walk the bread rows, where the stamped Samarkand non is stacked in wheels, then the dried apricots, raisins, walnuts and spices. Buy bread for the road; it is the city's edible souvenir.

Registan, Samarkand
Registan, SamarkandPhoto: Alexander Gluschenko / Unsplash

17:00 — Bibi-Khanym and the sheltered detour

If the sky clears, cross to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, where the vast dome and portal are best seen in flat, grey light. If it hasn't, keep to the bazaar's arcades or head to a teahouse and wait it out with a pot of green tea.

19:00 — Dinner, then the floodlit square

Wet paving in front of the Registan reflects the evening floodlights beautifully. Even in drizzle, it is worth ten minutes under an umbrella before you call it a night.

Tip: Carry small notes in local currency for the bazaar and for site entry, and keep a folding umbrella rather than a rain jacket — the covered walkways mean you will be putting it up and down all day.

Still wandering?

Scroll the world one photograph at a time

Sixty places, each with the one fact worth knowing before you go

Open the feed
Same place, another angle

More from Samarkand

Visitors photographing the turquoise-tiled mausoleum facades of the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
01
The List

The 8 Unmissable Experiences in Samarkand, Ranked

From the Registan at dusk to the avenue of tombs at Shah-i-Zinda — ranking the essential experiences in the Silk Road's greatest city.

Uzbekistan · 2 min
The three tiled madrasahs of the Registan in Samarkand ranged around their empty paved square under a clear morning sky
02
The List

The Most Photogenic Corners of Samarkand, Ranked

Ten Samarkand views ranked by what they give back to a camera, with the hour to shoot each one, what it costs to get in, and the order that keeps you out of the midday sun.

Uzbekistan · 14 min
A quiet arcaded courtyard in Samarkand with timber galleries on both sides and a ribbed turquoise dome rising beyond
03
Stays

Basing Yourself in Samarkand: A First-Timer's Guide

Samarkand has four quite distinct places to sleep, and the choice between atmosphere and convenience is easier than it looks once you know which side of the Registan you want to wake up on.

Uzbekistan · 11 min
Keep exploring

More in Itineraries

The wooded promontory of Villa del Balbianello reaching into Lake Como, its terraced villa buildings and clipped trees above the blue water, with the lake's steep mountains behind
01
Itineraries

A Rainy Day on Lake Como: The All-Indoor Route

Low cloud on the lake is atmospheric rather than tragic. A day of silk, a duomo, a villa museum and a covered ferry deck — built entirely from things that work better in bad weather.

Italy · 2 min
Florence Cathedral: Brunelleschi's red-tiled dome and Giotto's bell tower rising above the rooftops of the city
02
Itineraries

Florence in Three Days: The Perfect Route Through the Heart of Tuscany

Three days genuinely cover Florence's classics, but only if you book the timed tickets before you fly and walk the city in the right order — here is that order, with what to skip and what it costs.

Italy · 10 min
A temple complex in Bangkok on a clear day: the gilded Loha Prasat and traditional Thai temple roofs
03
Itineraries

48 Hours in Bangkok: The Route That Makes Every Hour Count

Two days is enough for Bangkok if you stop fighting its geography: this route gives the old river city and the modern rail city half a day each, and uses the Chao Phraya as the seam between them.

Thailand · 13 min
A wooden abra crossing the Burj Lake at night in Downtown Dubai, the towers of the promenade reflected in the water around it
04
Itineraries

Dubai with Kids: Water Parks and Air Conditioning

A city that has built its family attractions on an industrial scale — and a climate that decides your timetable for you, whether you like it or not.

United Arab Emirates · 4 min
A traditional Zanzibari dhow under full sail silhouetted against a pink and grey sunset off Nungwi, the sun sitting on the horizon and its light running across flat water towards the camera.
05
Itineraries

Eight Days in Zanzibar: Three Bases, One Tide Table, No Backtracking

Zanzibar rewards just over a week if you split it into three bases and let the tide table, rather than the map, decide what you do each morning.

Tanzania · 10 min
Aerial view of the Midtown Manhattan skyline at sunset, with the Empire State Building rising at the centre
06
Itineraries

3 Days in New York for First-Timers

A momentum-first itinerary through Midtown icons, downtown history and Brooklyn's waterfront — with the queues, subways and pastrami handled.

United States · 3 min