Self-Guided Samsa and Bazaar Walk

The Self-Guided Samsa and Bazaar Walk is an independent two-to-three-hour tasting route in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with no tour operator and no booking needed. It begins at Chorsu Bazaar, on Zarqaynar Street in the Old City, at about 08:00, when the stalls are opening and the bakers' rows are at their busiest. The suggested start point is Chorsu metro station, which sits beside the market and its blue-domed main hall.

The walk covers the bread rows and spice stalls at Chorsu, where fresh non is baked in tandoor ovens and spices are sold by weight. The first tasting is samsa, the baked pastry filled with minced lamb and onion that is one of the city's classic street foods. Visitors then browse the dried fruit and halva stalls, buying small amounts to sample. After the market, the route continues by ride-hailing app (Yandex Go) to Minor Somsa for a second samsa breakfast, allowing a comparison between market-stall samsa and a dedicated bakery. The balance is mostly savoury, with dried fruit and halva as the sweet element.

Costs are low: about 50,000-120,000 UZS per person, roughly $4-10, covering samsa, bread, dried fruit, halva and the ride between the two stops. Everything is paid at the stalls, and there is no guide, fixed group or language provision, so visitors set their own pace and can adapt the order to their tastes. Dietary substitutions are not formally available, but bread, dried fruit and nuts suit vegetarians, while samsa is normally meat-filled and should be checked at the stall. Cash in UZS is the most reliable payment method in the market.

The walk suits independent travellers comfortable with markets and short app-based rides, and it works well as a breakfast outing before other sightseeing.