Nature Day Trips from Samarkand: Mountains, Lakes and Desert

The best nature day trips from Samarkand are a half-day horse ride in the green Agalyk foothills, a half-day drive up to the Kitob Pass, the mountain climb to Hazrat Daud Cave, the Urgut trip with its paper mill and ancient plane-tree grove, a full day in the Kyzylkum Desert at Aydarkul Lake and a yurt camp, and a long day across the border to the Seven Lakes of Tajikistan. All six start and end at your Samarkand hotel. This guide compares them by time, effort and season, then explains each trip and how to fit it around your days in the city.

Key facts

• Shortest: Agalyk horse riding and the Kitob Pass, both 4–5 hours.
• Most active: Hazrat Daud Cave, with 1,303 steps to climb or a horse or donkey ride up the mountain.
• Longest: the yurt camp and Aydarkul Lake day, 13–14 hours.
• Across a border: the Seven Lakes day tour to Tajikistan, 7–10 hours; bring your original passport.
• Seasonal: the Aydarkul and yurt camp day trip runs from 15 March to 15 November; Agalyk and the Seven Lakes run all year.
• Start: hotel pick-up in Samarkand for every trip, with a private car and driver.

Nature day trips from Samarkand at a glance

• Agalyk horse riding: 4–5 hours. 1–1.5 hours on horseback in green foothills. Easy, beginners welcome, age 12+. All year.
• Kitob Pass: 4–5 hours. Mountain views, a short walk, lunch in the mountains. Easy. Daily.
• Hazrat Daud Cave: 5–7 hours. A sacred cave and a valley viewpoint at 1,280 m. The most physical trip. Daily.
• Urgut and Konigil: 5–7 hours. Water-mill paper workshop, Urgut bazaar, the Chor Chinor plane-tree grove. Easy, nature plus crafts. Daily.
• Yurt camp and Aydarkul Lake: 13–14 hours. Nurata's sacred spring, a desert lake, a camel ride, tea in a yurt. Easy but long. 15 March – 15 November.
• Seven Lakes, Tajikistan: 7–10 hours. Mountain lakes in the Fann Mountains, Panjakent, Sarazm. Mostly by car, border crossing. All year.

Agalyk horse riding: the easy half day

Agalyk is a green foothill area just outside Samarkand, and the Agalyk horse riding tour is the gentlest way to swap the city's blue domes for open hills. Your English-speaking driver picks you up at your hotel between 09:00 and 10:00. In Agalyk you meet the local horsemen and ride for 1–1.5 hours through the hills and valleys around the village.

The pace is calm and suits beginners. If you have little riding experience, tell us when you book and an instructor will ride with you; this is included. After the ride there is time for photos, a rest and a walk in the village, and you are back at your hotel about 5 hours after the start. If you want to ride longer than 1.5 hours, the extra time is paid on the spot.

• Who it suits: first-time riders, couples and families with children aged 12 or older.
• What to wear: comfortable trousers and closed shoes, a hat and sunglasses, and a light jacket, because mornings in the foothills can be cooler than in the city.

For more on the ride itself, read our guide to horse riding near Samarkand in Agalyk.

Kitob Pass: mountain views and lunch, back by early afternoon

The Kitob Pass trip is a short, relaxed half day in the mountains on the road towards Kashkadarya. Pick-up is at 09:00 and the drive to the pass takes about an hour, with views along the way. At the pass you have time for the mountain scenery, a short walk and photos.

Lunch is at a restaurant in the mountains, where you can try local dishes such as Kashkadarya tandir, meat baked in a traditional clay oven. Lunch is not included in the tour. You start back at about 13:00 and are at your hotel at about 14:00–14:30, which leaves the afternoon free for the city.

Hazrat Daud Cave: a climb with a view

Hazrat Daud Cave is a pilgrimage site in the mountains near Aksay village, about 40 km (an hour's drive) from Samarkand. The cave is linked to Prophet David (Dawood), and pilgrims come to touch the handprints and footprints associated with him and make a wish.

This is the most active trip in this guide. From the foot of the mountain, at 980 m, there are two ways up: 1,303 steps, or about half an hour on a horse or donkey. The horse or donkey is not included in the tour. At the top is a mosque and a viewing platform at 1,280 m with a panoramic view of the Samarkand valley. From there, 200 steps lead down to the cave, where a tunnel takes you to the prints. You come back down to the village by the steps.

• Duration: 5–7 hours, with pick-up at 09:00.
• Transport: a sedan for 1–3 people or a van for 4–6; an English-speaking guide is optional.
• Who it suits: travellers who are happy with a lot of steps, and anyone interested in the region's sacred sites.
• Food: lunch is not included, so plan a meal before or after the climb.

Read more in our Hazrat Daud Cave guide.

Urgut, Konigil and the Chor Chinor grove: nature with crafts

The Urgut and Konigil tour mixes countryside and craft. In the village of Konigil, just outside Samarkand, a silk paper workshop on the banks of the Siab River still uses water mills and water wheels. You see how the paper is made and can try making it yourself in the traditional way.

The day can begin, if you wish, at a family-owned silk carpet workshop. From Konigil you drive to Urgut bazaar, known among visitors for its suzani, the handmade cloths used as wall hangings, bedcovers and tablecloths. The nature highlight comes at the end: the Chor Chinor grove in the upper part of Urgut town, near the Zeravshan ridge, where thousand-year-old plane trees have grown into huge, unusual shapes.

• Duration: 5–7 hours, starting at 09:00 and back in Samarkand in the afternoon.
• Format: private, or as a group tour with other travellers.
• Not included: entrance tickets, meals and the optional guide.

Yurt camp and Aydarkul Lake: the desert in one day

If you want a complete change of scenery, the one-day yurt camp and Aydarkul Lake tour takes you from Samarkand into the Kyzylkum Desert and back in one long day. It runs from 15 March to 15 November.

Pick-up is at 7:00 or 8:00, as you choose. The first stop is Nurata, with the sacred Chashma spring, its pool of sacred fish and the ruins of a fortress linked to Alexander the Great. Then you drive about 60 km through the foothills and steppe to Aydarkul Lake, a large blue lake among the sands, where you can swim in warm months. Lunch is by the lake, with fish from the lake and Uzbek dishes, and it is included.

In the afternoon you reach a yurt camp for a camel ride on the dunes, tea in a yurt and the story of how nomads live and build their yurts. With a 7:00 start you are back at your hotel, the train station or the airport at about 20:30. This is a driver-only tour, without a guide, and there is no night in the desert. For the day trip in detail, see our Aydarkul Lake and yurt camp day trip guide.

Seven Lakes, Tajikistan: the big mountain day

The Seven Lakes day tour crosses into Tajikistan to Haft Kul, a chain of lakes that sit one above the other along a valley in the Fann Mountains, their colours changing from lake to lake. Our driver picks you up at about 08:00 and takes you to the Jartepa–Sarazm border, where our team helps you through the procedures. On the Tajik side a second driver, who speaks English or Russian, takes you on.

You stop at each lake for short walks and photos, have lunch at a local guesthouse or lakeside restaurant (included), then make a short visit to Panjakent and a photo stop at Sarazm, a UNESCO-listed archaeological site. You are back at your hotel between 18:30 and 19:00.

• Passport and visa: bring your original passport. Visa rules depend on your nationality; we tell you in advance if you need a Tajik visa or a double-entry visa to come back into Uzbekistan.
• Winter: the tour runs all year, but heavy snow can make the mountain road hard, and it may not be possible to reach all seven lakes.
• Who it suits: travellers who want the most dramatic mountain scenery and do not mind a long day on a mountain road.

For background, read our Seven Lakes day tour guide.

How to choose the right trip

• Only a morning free? Choose Agalyk or the Kitob Pass. Both take 4–5 hours and leave the rest of the day for the city.
• Want to stretch your legs? Hazrat Daud Cave is the one with a real climb. If you prefer not to walk up, you can ride a horse or donkey.
• Travelling with children? Agalyk riders must be at least 12. The Kitob Pass and the yurt camp day ask little physical effort, though the desert day is long.
• Interested in crafts as well as landscapes? Urgut and Konigil combine a paper workshop, a bazaar and an ancient tree grove.
• Travelling in winter? Agalyk and the Seven Lakes run all year; the desert day trip runs only from 15 March to 15 November.

Combining a nature trip with Samarkand

Plan at least one full day for Samarkand itself. A half-day trip such as Agalyk or the Kitob Pass fits well into a second morning, with time for the city in the afternoon.

The Hazrat Daud and Urgut trips take most of a day but still end in the afternoon. The yurt camp day and the Seven Lakes are full days on their own, so give each one a separate day. If you are moving on, the yurt camp tour can drop you at the train station or the airport in the evening. Write to us on WhatsApp and we will help you fit the right trip into your dates.