Neo Park (Vatanparvar Park)

A new park on an old site

Neo Park was built in the Vatanparvar neighbourhood in the north-west of the city, on the site of the former Vatanparvar military-patriotic park. Construction of a modern leisure park on seven hectares was reported under way in September 2025, and the park welcomed its first visitors in July 2026. According to press reports the project cost around 10 million US dollars, and the park can take more than a thousand visitors at a time.

The regional administration's website gives the area as 7.3 hectares and also mentions an artificial lake, a race track and a go-kart circuit.

The wheel and the rides

The park's landmark is a Ferris wheel 92 metres high, with 49 enclosed cabins carrying up to 300 people per rotation; the press has billed it as the tallest in Central Asia. From the top a wide panorama of old and new Samarkand opens up.

There are also more than 25 modern rides for children and adults (the official figure is over 30), an 85-metre glass bridge, roller coasters, a haunted house, a shooting gallery and a virtual-reality room, a small zoo with more than 20 animal species, and around twenty cafés and restaurants. Rides are paid for with a single park card, issued free of charge.

Why it matters

For all its historic monuments, Samarkand long lacked modern places for residents to relax — especially children and older people. In August 2025 the regional authorities announced a programme to create new parks and revive neglected ones, including plans to enlarge the Vatanparvar park onto neighbouring land with modern rides and water zones. Neo Park is the realisation of those plans and quickly became one of the city's new sights.

It lies well away from the historic centre, in the north-west of the city, so a taxi is the easiest way to get there.