Silk Road Samarkand

The showcase of a new Samarkand

This international tourist centre sprawls along a rowing canal on the city's eastern edge. Work began in 2019 on the president's initiative, and the complex was formally opened on 23 August 2022. Its 200-plus hectares hold 8 hotels with some 1,200 rooms, 14 villas, a congress centre, an expo centre, the Eternal City ethno-park, parks, restaurants and sports grounds. The hotels can sleep more than 3,000 guests and include the Hilton Samarkand Regency, the Savitsky Plaza, named after the art collector Igor Savitsky, and the Stars of Ulugbek, a nod to the astronomer-ruler. The Registan is about 20 minutes away by car.

Congress centre and world events

The centrepiece is an oriental-style congress centre with panoramic windows, offering 18,000 square metres of event space; its largest hall covers 3,500 square metres and seats 3,000. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held its summit here on 15–16 September 2022, and leaders of the Organization of Turkic States met here that November.

From 30 October to 13 November 2025 the complex hosted the 43rd session of UNESCO's General Conference — the first held outside Paris since 1985 — at which the organisation's new Director-General, Khaled El-Enany, took his oath of office. From 15 to 27 September 2026 its expo centre staged the 46th Chess Olympiad, the first ever held in Central Asia.

Canal, fountain and leisure

The complex's signature is its 2.2 km rowing canal, which the centre describes as the only one of its kind in Central Asia; in August 2024 Samarkand hosted the Canoe Sprint World Championships. Pleasure boats ply the water, and after dark a 125-metre musical fountain with jets reaching 55 metres comes alive with a laser show — free to watch every day outside the winter season.