If you have ever stood in the Court of the Lions in Granada and caught your breath at that impossible lace of carved stucco and light, then Uzbekistan already lives somewhere inside you. Some five thousand kilometres east of Andalusia, the same restless genius that raised the Alhambra built turquoise domes and honey-coloured madrasas across the deserts of the Silk Road. This year more and more Spanish travellers are discovering Samarkand — a city that does not feel foreign at all, but like a memory you never knew you had.
Walk the Shah-i-Zinda at golden hour, that narrow “avenue of the dead” lined with tombs the colour of a Mediterranean sky, and the comparison stops being poetic. UNESCO describes Samarkand’s tilework as a masterpiece of Islamic ceramic art. Spaniards recognise it instantly: endless geometry, interlaced stars, the same blues the masters of Córdoba and Seville loved. Two ends of one civilisation finally meet.
Samarkand: the Alhambra of the East
For Spanish travellers planning viajes a Uzbekistán along the Ruta de la Seda, Samarkand is a revelation. The Registan — three monumental madrasas facing each other across a sunlit square — is, in UNESCO’s words, a crossroads of the world’s cultures whose architecture influenced the Islamic world from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent. The mosaics of Bibi-Khanym and the ribbed dome of Gur-e-Amir, where Timur lies, speak the same visual language as the azulejos of Andalusia. You will not need a guidebook to feel at home — only the memory of the south of your own country.
A shared Andalusian soul
What binds Granada to Samarkand is not coincidence but a single thread of Islamic art that ran the length of the medieval world. The same love of geometry without end, of muqarnas dripping like honeycomb from a vaulted ceiling, of script turned into ornament — it flowered in Al-Andalus and it flowered here, often in the very same century. To travel from Bukhara’s Po-i-Kalon to Khiva’s walled Itchan Kala is to read the eastern chapters of a book whose first pages you already know by heart. For a Spaniard, Uzbekistan is less a discovery than a reunion.
Why 2026 Is the Year for Spanish Travellers
The timing has never been better. Uzbekistan welcomed 2.87 million international visitors in the first quarter of 2026 alone — a 36.6% surge that makes it one of the fastest-growing destinations on earth. Spanish citizens, like the rest of the EU, travel visa-free for up to 30 days; you simply arrive. Sleek Afrosiyob high-speed trains glide between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in a couple of hours, and a new high-speed line now reaches Khiva. The country is also celebrated as one of the safest in the region for independent and solo-female travellers. Come in autumn and the bazaars overflow with melons, pomegranates and grapes; the desert heat softens into something golden and kind.
Your Andalusian Heart on the Silk Road
At GoUzbekistan we are a licensed local tour operator with offices in Tashkent and Bukhara, building journeys for travellers who want more than a checklist — who want to feel the place. Let us design a route that follows the tilework from Samarkand to Khiva, with the chaikhanas, the artisans and the quiet courtyards that never make the postcards. Create your own custom tour or explore our tours and let the Alhambra of the East steal your heart the way Granada once did.
Plan your Uzbekistan trip — in your language
العربية
سمرقند هي جوهرة طريق الحرير: قباب فيروزية ومدارس مزخرفة تنتظر زوّارها. اكتشف روعة السياحة في أوزبكستان مع مرشدين محليين. صمّم رحلتك الخاصة أو تصفّح جولاتنا اليوم.
Deutsch
Samarkand, Buchara und Chiwa erwarten Sie auf einer unvergesslichen Usbekistan Reise. Erleben Sie eine Seidenstraße Rundreise mit türkisen Kuppeln und herzlicher Gastfreundschaft. Gestalten Sie Ihre eigene Reise oder entdecken Sie unsere Touren.
Español
Samarcanda es la Alhambra de Oriente: cúpulas turquesas y mosaicos que todo viajero español reconocerá. Descubra los mejores viajes a Uzbekistán por la Ruta de la Seda. Diseñe su propio viaje a medida o explore nuestros tours.
Français
Samarcande, Boukhara et Khiva vous attendent pour un voyage inoubliable en Ouzbékistan. Suivez la Route de la Soie entre coupoles turquoise et accueil chaleureux. Créez votre voyage sur mesure ou découvrez nos circuits.
中文
撒马尔罕是丝绸之路上的明珠:绿松石圆顶与精美的伊斯兰艺术令人惊叹。立即开启您的乌兹别克斯坦旅游之旅。定制您的专属行程或浏览我们的旅游线路。
Русский
Самарканд — жемчужина Шёлкового пути: вас ждут бирюзовые купола и древние медресе. Откройте для себя лучшие туры в Узбекистане с гидами. Создайте свой индивидуальный тур или посмотрите наши туры.
