Samarkand Group Day Tour: Five Monuments with a Local Guide
Five monuments in a day with a licensed guide: the Registan, Gur-e-Amir, Bibi-Khanym, Shah-i-Zinda and Ulugh Beg's observatory. Transport included. From $20.
Tashkent Modernism Tour: The City's New UNESCO World Heritage Buildings and Metro
In July 2026 Tashkent's modernist architecture joined the UNESCO World Heritage List. See it with your own guide: the Palace of Arts, the Peoples' Friendship Palace, the museums, the circus, Chorsu Bazaar's domes and the Kosmonavtlar metro station.
About this trip
After the 1966 earthquake, Tashkent was rebuilt as a showcase city. Its architects did something unusual for the Soviet Union: they combined bold modernist concrete with the domes, screens and ornament of Central Asia. In July 2026 UNESCO inscribed ten of these buildings as "Tashkent Modernist Architecture: Modernity and Tradition in Central Asia", the first World Heritage site in the capital.
This private tour shows them with a guide who knows the stories: who built them, why they look the way they do, and how Tashkent lives in them today.
What you see
- The Palace of Arts, the former Panorama cinema of 1964, and the Peoples' Friendship Palace with its great colonnade
- The State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan and the State Museum of Arts, with their patterned facades
- The Tashkent State Circus and the Central Exhibition Hall of the Academy of Arts
- Chorsu Bazaar, the market under a cluster of blue domes from the 1980s
- Kosmonavtlar metro station, the space-age station of 1984, on a short metro ride
- The Pearl residential building, seen from the street
How the tour goes
About four to five hours, by car between the sites, on foot around them and one stretch by metro. Most buildings are seen from outside; the museums can be visited inside with a ticket, if you would like to.
Want the most unusual site of the ten? Add the Sun Heliocomplex near Parkent, a solar furnace with a field of mirrors in the foothills, about an hour from the city. It turns the tour into a full day (see the options).
Who it suits
Architecture and design lovers, photographers, and anyone who has seen Tashkent's old town and wants to understand the modern city.
Day by day
- Pickup at your hotel
Your guide and driver collect you and set the scene: the 1966 earthquake and the rebuilding of Tashkent.
- Palace of Arts and Peoples' Friendship Palace
The former Panorama cinema, one of the first modernist buildings in the city, and the vast Friendship Palace across the square.
- The museums
The State Museum of the History of Uzbekistan and the State Museum of Arts, two buildings where concrete screens take the place of traditional carved grilles.
- Circus and Central Exhibition Hall
The domed State Circus and the exhibition hall of the Academy of Arts.
- Metro to Kosmonavtlar
A short ride on the Tashkent metro to Kosmonavtlar station, decorated with portraits of cosmonauts in deep blue.
- Chorsu Bazaar
The market under its blue domes, built in the 1980s on the site of the old bazaar. Time to walk the halls and taste the dried fruit and bread.
- Drop-off at your hotel
The tour ends back at your hotel, or anywhere in the centre you prefer.
What's included
- Your own professional English-speaking guide (other languages: see the options)
- Car with driver between the sites, with pickup and drop-off at your hotel
- Metro tokens
- Bottled water
Not included
- Museum tickets, if you go inside
- Lunch and drinks
- Tips for guide and driver
- Travel insurance — required for every traveller
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