The 3 Best Market Tours in Uzbekistan

1.Private Samarkand Cooking Class with Market Tour & Transfers

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 14 reviews · from $72Our pick

Start at a neighborhood market near Samarkand railway station with Shodiyor or Sunnat, then visit his family home in Eshim Oksok. Help prepare plov and salad, or bake bread in a wood-fired tandir with Barchinoy, followed by a shared home meal.

“It's our favourite experience in Uzbekistan. Highly recommended. Shodiyor is a elegant French teacher. We went to market together, bought all the ingredients for plov, cut carrots with lovely family members in this beautifully decorated hRead more”

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2.Samarkand Local Family Cooking Class and Siyob Bazaar Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 5 reviews · from $65Best value

Spend about six hours with Akramjon and Rushana, beginning at Siyob Bazaar before joining a Samarkand family to prepare plov, shashlik, and samsa. You’ll share lunch, hear about local customs, and take part in a private, hands-on home visit. Vegetarian dishes can be arranged.

“This was truly the most unique tour I’ve ever booked. An absolute must for anyone wanting to truly understand Samarkand. Together with Akramjon and Rushana, I had the rare opportunity to learn all the details of making traditional Read more”

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3.Traditional Khiva Cooking Class with Market Visit & Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 4 reviews · 2.5 hours

Sarvar Bobojonov takes you from your Khiva hotel to a local market, then into his family home for a hands-on class in plov or Shivit Oshi. You will shop for ingredients, cook with his family, eat together, drink green tea, and take home the recipes.

“This was such a wonderful experience! My friends and I all loved it. Our guide, Sarvar, was very friendly and gave detailed explanations throughout the tour. He first took us to a local market to buy ingredients — we probably wouldn’t have found this place without him! Then, he invited us to his home to cook together, which was such a rare and special opportunity to see what a local home looks like. Sarvar’s family was warm and welcoming. His mother cooked plov for us — it was the best plov we had during our entire trip! After the meal, they even served us local melons and watermelons, which were…”

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