- Hotels
- $10-25 guesthouse, $40-90 mid
- Sights
- ~UZS 380,000 pp for main set
- Meals
- Plov UZS 25,000-50,000
- Taxis
- UZS 20,000-30,000/ride
- 3-day total
- Rs 45k-65k mid-range for two
Samarkand is gentler on the wallet than its postcards suggest. Hotels, sights and food all run cheaper than most Indian travellers expect from a UNESCO headline city. Here is the honest arithmetic for a couple, using late-2026 prices and an exchange rate of roughly UZS 1,000 to Rs 7.
Hotels: the biggest line
Samarkand's hotel bands, per current booking listings: family guesthouses and simple hotels $10-25 (Rs 900-2,200) a night; 3-4 star hotels $40-90 (Rs 3,500-8,000); 5-star and premium boutique properties $100-220 (Rs 8,800-19,500). The sweet spot with parents is a $50-70 boutique guesthouse near the Registan - walking distance to the main square saves taxi money and afternoon-rest logistics. Three mid-range nights: roughly Rs 10,500-24,000.
Sights and activities
Individual tickets, source-dated September 2026: Registan UZS 100,000 (Rs 700), Gur-e-Amir UZS 75,000 (Rs 525), Bibi-Khanym mausoleum UZS 50,000 (Rs 350), Afrosiyab Museum UZS 80,000 (Rs 560), Ulugh Beg Observatory UZS 75,000 (Rs 525). The full main set comes to about UZS 380,000 per person (Rs 2,700) - Siyob Bazaar and the evening Registan view are free. For two: under Rs 5,500 total, with no senior concessions published for foreign visitors, so budget full fare.
Food and local transport
A plate of plov at a local restaurant runs UZS 25,000-50,000 (Rs 175-350); a comfortable sit-down meal for two with salads, bread and tea lands at Rs 800-1,800. Budget Rs 2,500-5,000 a day for two eating well. Yandex Go rides inside the city cost UZS 20,000-30,000 (Rs 140-210) each - even taking taxis everywhere, a day of rides is under Rs 800 for the two of you. The Afrosiyob train from Tashkent is UZS 311,000 per person in economy (about Rs 2,200) - our transport guide compares the options.
The 3-day total
Lean (guesthouse, local eateries, walking): about Rs 25,000-35,000 for two for three days, excluding international flights. Comfortable (mid-range boutique, taxis when tired, restaurant dinners): Rs 45,000-65,000. Premium (top boutique hotel, private guide): Rs 90,000 and up. Samarkand days also fold neatly into a wider Uzbekistan loop - our 3-day Samarkand itinerary maps this budget onto actual days, and the station arrival guide keeps day one cheap.
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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