A Wonderful Tour with an Excellent Guide - I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this tour. My guide, Amin, was knowledgeable, polite, and very easy to communicate with. I requested a personalized version of the private tour and Amin was very willing to accommodate my schedule. Samarkand is an amazing city and it was fantastic to see it though the eyes of such a professional and friendly guide. I highly recommend hiring Amin if you want to get the most out of your visit to Samarkand.

Emir Timur .. what more does one say - To start with the architecture is the star .. we were staying next to the main monument Regestan so spent the earlier night also there to watch the light show ( I would say not worth paying for it ) and to be honest I think a lot more could have been done … that apart .., the architecture is gob smacking … the sheer size of the madrasas and mosque speak a lot of the man that was Emir Taimur .. larger than life .. we had a superb guide Alab …who knew everything there was to know and then some … have to mention the super polite driver too ( sorry didn’t get his name ) … me and my wife absolutely loved the tour and the experience was made even better that the weather was perfect too .. loved Samarkand .., would def recommend this as a must do city

Good experience - Our guide Bek was very good and knowledgeable . A good photographer too😁. Didn't rush us...good relaxed pace. Nice day overall

Super engaging tour, thanks to a great guide. - Amin is a knowledgeable guide. He made the trip fun with his wit and gave us a good experience. He even helped us with local shopping. Highly recommended. Don't think twice before booking.

Samarkand day trip with Amin - We did the private tour with Amin and it was the highlight of our trip. My wife was in Uzbekistan for business and I was able to join. We had hoped to spend the night in Samarkand but train availability was pretty limited so we did a day trip from Tashkent and that worked out great. As people have noted, Amin is an outstanding guide. Highly recommended. He's super friendly and accommodating. His English is great. I have to admit we knew almost nothing about the city when we arrived and he helped bring it to life really well. Samarkand really is amazing and absolutely worth a visit and tour. I can't imagine we would gotten anywhere near as much out of it as we did with his insight. All the sights we visited were incredible. Our lunch at a local cafe was outstanding. We didn't have time for Bukhara and Khiva but based on this experience I would not be surprised if we returned to Uzbekistan for another visit. The country better get used to tourists because I think a lot more will be coming soon.

A great tour with Zarina, a fantastic guide. - A friendly, patient and highly educated guide, Zarina organized our visit in Samarkand. We visited the main landmarks and received precious information both about the monuments and about life in Uzbekistan. Generous with her time, she tailor-made the tour, breaking it in two parts to accommodate my needs ( I had some health issues those days; she also helped me the needed medicine). We thank Zarina for two excellent days in Samarkand and heartily recommend her.

Highly recommended, - We are a couple on our sixties. Our guide was Amin. It was a wonderful experience. We were taken to all of the sites one would like to see in Samarkand, in the best way. We have been around, plenty, and it is not common to see someone as good as Amin. He was respectful, friendly, and knowledgeable. He never seemed rushed or uninterested. Highly recommended.

Great tour - I had a great time on this tour, Amin is very knowledgeable and passionate about his country and its history. I managed to see all the highlights of Samarkand in one day, which was perfect for my weekend trip.

Fascinating, insightful and comprehensive tour with a terrific guide! - We spent a wonderful day with Amin, who is a terrific tour guide with a great command of English. We saw spectacular sites but we enjoyed our conversations about his life and experience in Uzbekistan even more.

Regrettable Tour Experience - I usually skip tour guides, but with Samarkand’s incredible history and monuments, my mom and I decided to splurge on a private day tour. Unfortunately, it was a complete letdown. We wanted a strong start to our trip, but instead, it left us frustrated. First, communication was poor from the start. Amin, our guide, never reached out the night before or the morning of the tour to confirm details or his arrival time. We were left scrambling to find his contact information through our hotel and had to call him ourselves to ensure he was still coming. The tour began at Timur’s mausoleum, where Amin provided an overview of Timur’s history and conquests. However, throughout the tour, he was frequently on his phone, either texting or taking calls. I eventually had to ask him to stop. Amin seemed disengaged and uninterested from the start. At the Siyob market, his disinterest became even more obvious. He offered almost no insight into the local food or culture and didn’t seem to have any relationships with the vendors there, visiting felt impersonal and rushed. Throughout providing information, his tone was defensive and borderline rude, and he kept repeating the same information at every monument. When I asked about specific architectural details, he couldn’t answer. I was left eavesdropping on other group's guides. Having traveled to 45 countries, I believe a good tour guide should be passionate about their job, country, and history. It’s not enough to memorize and repeat facts. Then came lunch. I had specifically messaged Amin days earlier, saying we wanted an authentic local spot. But he took us to a touristy place with inedible food. When I asked why, he said, “Places with only locals aren't good.” That made no sense, and it left me wondering if he was getting a kickback from the restaurant. On top of everything, Amin took us to Registan Square—arguably the most impressive monument in Central Asia—at the very end of the tour, around 5 p.m. By that point, we were completely exhausted and ended up skipping it. My mom and I visited on our own the next day, and it was so vast that it took hours to explore. We couldn’t understand how any guide would leave such a monumental site for the end of the day. It just showed that the tour was poorly planned overall. In the end, we spent a whole day and a lot of money on a tour that didn’t deliver on the planning, passion, or details. We came to Samarkand looking for a meaningful, personalized, positive experience but instead left with a sour taste, and it impacted the rest of our trip. It’s a shame because we wanted to dive deep into the city’s rich history, but this tour was a total miss.