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Food tours in Samarkand

Samarkand Food Tours Guide 2026

How to taste Samarkand properly: market tours, cooking schools, and a food crawl you can run solo.

By Updated

The short answer: start with Self-Guided Siab Bazaar Food Walk, Samarkand Plov Lunch Crawl and Uzbek Cooking Class with Lunch from Registan Square. This guide profiles 4+ food tours and culinary experiences in Samarkand, with prices, timing, and the practical notes that decide whether each one earns a place in your plan.

Samarkand is Uzbekistan's Silk Road showpiece, a 2,700-year-old city of turquoise domes, the Registan's three madrasas, Timur's tomb and the tiled mausoleums of Shah-i-Zinda.

Top food tours

Guided experiences that show you Samarkand through its food.

Food tour

Self-Guided Siab Bazaar Food Walk

2–3 hours50,000–120,000 UZS (~$4.2–10) per person for tastings

Walk the bread, samsa, dried-fruit and spice stalls and eat as you go.

Includes: Hot Samarkand non straight from the tandir at the entrance · Samsa fresh from clay ovens · Dried apricots, raisins, walnuts and halva sold by weight · Spice rows under the market dome · Tea at Bibikhanum Teahouse beside Bibi-Khanym
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Food tour

Samarkand Plov Lunch Crawl

1–1.5 hours35,000–70,000 UZS (~$2.9–5.8) per person

Eat plov in several styles at a local plov centre before it sells out.

Includes: Plov in several regional styles at a local plov centre · Achichuk salad and tea served alongside · Combines easily with a bread and samsa stop at Siab Bazaar
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Food tour

Uzbek Cooking Class with Lunch from Registan Square

About 5.5 hours744,000 UZS (~$62) per person (from US$62)

Includes: Hands-on plov preparation in a kazan, from frying to layering the rice · Lunch of the finished dish with tea, water, wine or vodka included · Departure and return at Registan Square with minibus transport · English-speaking assistant explains each stage of the dish
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Food tour

Village Plov Master Class with Market Visit

Half day781,000 UZS (~$65) per person (about US$65)

Includes: Hands-on plov class led by local hosts in a village setting · Guided visit to a traditional market before cooking · Village dinner of plov, bread, tea and homemade sweets · Round-trip transfers from Samarkand, with hotel pickup listed
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Tour formats

Different ways to experience Samarkand's food scene.

Cooking classes

Take a piece of Samarkand home with you.

Class

Uzbek Cooking Class with Lunch from Registan Square

About 5.5 hours744,000 UZS (~$62) per person (from US$62)
Class

Village Plov Master Class with Market Visit

Half day781,000 UZS (~$65) per person (about US$65)

DIY self-guided food tour

Build your own food crawl through Samarkand.

  1. 1

    Start at Siab Bazaar by 09:00 for hot non, samsa and dried fruit

  2. 2

    Tea at Bibikhanum Teahouse beside Bibi-Khanym

  3. 3

    Plov at 12 Ibn Sina Street before 13:00

  4. 4

    Evening grill dinner at Karimbek or Emirhan with a Registan view

Foodie tips

Get more out of every meal.

Tip

Eat plov at lunch; it sells out by mid-afternoon.

Tip

Buy non early and tear it by hand; never put it upside down.

Tip

Carry small som notes for market stalls.

Tip

Taste dried fruit before buying.

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