Shahrisabz from Samarkand: Ak-Saray and the mountain road

Three groups of monuments, and what is left of each

Ak-Saray is the sight most people come for, and it is a ruin. Timur began the palace in 1380, and only the pillars of the entrance portal remain; the arch of the gate, once the largest in Central Asia, collapsed almost 300 years ago. The original portal stood about 70 m high with an arch more than 22 m wide, and what survives is still about as tall as an eighteen-storey building. The arch showed a lion and sun and the three-ring emblem of the Timurid state. You look up at two masses of brick, with blue mosaic still visible in places, and walk the open ground around them; you see them from the ground, and there is no palace interior.

Dorut Tilovat grew around the tomb of the Sufi sheikh Shamsiddin Kulal, who taught Timur and his father and died in 1371. Three buildings stand round one courtyard, the cathedral mosque and two mausoleums. The mosque, Kok Gumbaz or Blue Dome, dates from 1435. Its portal carries geometric brick mosaic, quotations from the Koran run round the drum of the outer dome, and you can walk the courtyard, with its colourful tile mosaics, and look into the prayer hall. The dome is about 46 m across by some estimates.

Behind the south wall of Kulal’s mausoleum stands Gumbazi Seyidon, built in 1437–38 for members of the Timurid family. Marble gravestones of the 15th to 17th centuries, brought from the neighbouring cemetery, lie inside, some with the names of Termez Seyids. Timur’s father, Emir Taragai, was reburied in one of the madrasa’s rooms.

Dorus Saodat lies south-west of the centre. Timur completed it in 1392 after the death of his eldest son Jahangir, who fell from a horse in 1375 aged 22; the outer dome is 27 m high. The guided tour includes the Jahangir mausoleum, the Hazrat Imam Mosque and the crypt prepared for Timur, who was buried in Samarkand’s Gur-e-Amir instead; see our Samarkand guide for that tomb. An old cemetery of local nobles and officials lies between Dorus Saodat and Dorut Tilovat, so they are two distinct groups of buildings.

The road from Samarkand and a day that fits it

Shahrisabz lies south of Samarkand on the far side of the mountains. The pass road is 85–90 km and normally takes around two hours without long stops. It runs through the Aman-Kutan gorge and over the Takhta-Karacha pass, with a stop at the Teshiktosh rock, which has a hole through it, and another at a small market at the top where dried fruit is sold. Cars and seven-seat minivans use the pass when it is open; larger vehicles always take the bypass, which adds time. Heavy snow closed the pass temporarily in December 2021 and January 2024, and on such days the bypass is the only way.

No UK, German or French advisory covers Shahrisabz or the pass road; other governments may draw the line differently, so check your own government’s advice. Be back in Samarkand before dark, because German advice is to avoid overland drives at night, and carry your passport all day, which UK advice says the law requires. Your Samarkand hotel registers you, and our entry guide has the rules.

No opening hours are published for the sights, so a morning arrival is the safest plan. The day runs roughly like this:

• 09:00, Samarkand: the driver collects you at your hotel.
• About 11:00, Ak-Saray: the first stop. Walk to the portal pillars across the square; the statue of Timur stands in front of them and gives a clear view of what remains.
• About 11:30, Dorus Saodat and Dorut Tilovat: the Jahangir mausoleum first, then the Kok Gumbaz courtyard and prayer hall. The driver waits in the Kok Gumbaz car park.
• About 13:00, lunch in Shahrisabz. The Family Restaurant KishMish is one a local operator recommends.
• About 14:00, the drive back, reaching your hotel around 16:30. STANTOURS’ standard plan starts the return at 13:00, so book a return of about 14:00 to fit lunch.
• Optional, plus one hour: the covered Chorsu trading dome for samsa and the Amir Temur Museum. Book the return for about 15:00 and expect to reach your hotel around 17:30.

Two ways to book the day, and what each includes

STANTOURS lists a private day tour, Samarkand → Shahrisabz → Samarkand, at EUR 75 per sedan for one to three people and EUR 140 for a minivan for four to seven. The tour takes 6–7 hours on a flexible date, in English or Russian. It covers the car and driver only: STANTOURS says most travellers go without a guide, with drivers who may not speak English, and lists entry fees of about EUR 8 per person in total, paid at the gates, lunch paid locally and a guide at EUR 60 per day on request. At EUR 1 = UZS 13,329.15 the sedan is about UZS 1,000,000, or UZS 500,000 each for two.

CAJ sells the same day as a package: USD 170 for one traveller, USD 100 per person for two (USD 200 in all) and from USD 65 per person for three to six in a seven-seat minivan, valid to 31 December 2026. The price includes the car, the driver, a guide who joins you in Shahrisabz and the entrance tickets for the programme; the guide does not travel from Samarkand, and lunch is separate. A booking is final only after CAJ sends written confirmation. At USD 1 = UZS 11,903.15, two travellers pay about UZS 2,400,000 together.

On the all-in basis of the table below, with food, a SIM each and the buffer included, the STANTOURS sedan is about UZS 2,000,000 for two, its guide takes the day to about UZS 2,800,000, and CAJ’s package comes to about UZS 3,200,000. CAJ is therefore about UZS 400,000 above the guided STANTOURS day, and its price already includes the tickets.

Tickets, an extra hour and the UNESCO label

STANTOURS estimates entry at about EUR 8 per person in total for the three groups, paid at the gates, and CAJ includes the tickets in its package. The UK government advises that very few ATMs outside the main cities accept international cards and suggests bringing enough cash, so take so’m from Samarkand for the gates, lunch and any souvenirs.

With an extra hour, the Amir Temur Museum fills 13 halls on two floors of the Chubin Madrasah, founded in 1996 for the 660th anniversary of Timur’s birth, with more displays under the open sky in its courtyard. Local itineraries pair the museums with a walk through the old bazaar and visits to craft workshops.

UNESCO inscribed the historic centre in 2000 and put it on its List of World Heritage in Danger in July 2016 over new building and demolition in the old neighbourhoods, a conservation matter rather than a travel warning. At its 47th session, in Paris in July 2025, the World Heritage Committee kept the site on the World Heritage List, and it is to be renamed Ak-Saray and the Timurid Monuments of Shakhrisabz.

Sleep in Samarkand, not in Shahrisabz

Both operators start and finish at your Samarkand hotel, and a day this short does not repay a luggage move. If you spend two or three nights in Samarkand, give Shahrisabz one of your full days, as our ten-day route does, and keep the Registan and the other city sights for the days either side.

Three own-site rates near the Registan and Bibi-Khanym give the range; our Samarkand guide compares them in full. Registon Saroy, at Sozangaron Street 66 and 400 m from the Registan, lists a standard double for up to two guests at UZS 640,000 a night, with free breakfast advertised. Bibikhanum Hotel, at Tashkent Street 10, shows a double at $95 on its home page. L’Argamak, at 4 Sulton Muhammad, lists a double from EUR 99 (about UZS 1,320,000) with breakfast included, plus a local tax of EUR 3 per person per night.

What the day costs, all in

The prices assume two adults making the trip from a Samarkand hotel they already have, on an ordinary shoulder-season date, with prices checked on 25 October 2026 and converted at the central-bank reference rate of 23 October 2026 as shown on Ipoteka Bank’s page (USD 1 = UZS 11,903.15, EUR 1 = UZS 13,329.15). Rounding is to UZS 100,000 and subtotals may differ from the total by one unit.

Entry fees use STANTOURS’ estimate of about EUR 8 per person. Food is an estimate of about UZS 225,000 per person for three meals and drinks, priced from a Tashkent plov chain’s online menu, where a 450 g portion is UZS 52,000 and a complete portion UZS 69,000. For SIM and extras, each of you buys a month of Beeline’s Hello 1 visitor plan at UZS 60,000, the fee in the operator’s October 2025 notice, with UZS 0 to activate a new eSIM; leave this out if you already have a SIM, and see our first-trip guide for the registration rules. The 10% buffer is the only extra cushion.

A STANTOURS guide adds EUR 60 (about UZS 800,000) plus 10% buffer, which takes the day from about UZS 2,000,000 to about UZS 2,800,000 for two. CAJ’s USD 100 per person covers the car, guide and tickets; with food, SIM and the buffer the day comes to about UZS 3,200,000 for two. If you follow our ten-day route, the trip cost guide already counts the car and entry fees for this day, so do not add these totals to it.

• Rooms: none extra. You sleep in the Samarkand room you already have.
• Food and drinks: about UZS 500,000 for two.
• Getting around: about UZS 1,000,000 for two.
• Sights and tours: about UZS 200,000 for two. These are entry fees.
• SIM and extras: about UZS 100,000 for two.
• 10% buffer: about UZS 200,000 for two.