Siab Bazaar: Samarkand’s great market

The bazaar takes its name from the Siab (Siyob) stream that runs below Afrasiyab, the hill of ancient Samarkand. There has been trade here for centuries: the market sits at the meeting point of the old city, the road from Afrasiyab and the street leading to the Registan. The present halls and covered rows were built in recent decades, but the layout and the bustle are traditional.

Siab is a working market for local people as well as a place for visitors. Families come to buy meat, vegetables and bread for the day; farmers from the surrounding villages bring fruit in season; and stalls for tourists sell sweets in gift boxes, spices and souvenirs.

Bread. Samarkand non is a thick, round, glazed bread with a stamped centre, baked in clay ovens (tandir). It is famous across Uzbekistan and keeps well, which is why travellers carry it home. Look for the bread row inside the bazaar, where women sell piles of fresh loaves.

Sweets. Halva in many flavours, navat (crystallised sugar, often eaten with tea), parvarda (pulled-sugar sweets) and nut brittles.

Dried fruit and nuts. Apricots with or without stones, raisins of several kinds, dried melon, almonds, walnuts and pistachios. Apricot kernels, salted or roasted, are a local favourite.

Spices. Cumin, coriander, barberry and the mixes used for plov, sold by weight.

Seasonal fruit. Strawberries and cherries in late spring, apricots and peaches in summer, grapes, melons and pomegranates in autumn.

Prices are often not displayed, and gentle bargaining is normal, especially when you buy several items. Sellers will offer tastes; it is polite to try, and you are not obliged to buy. Carry small notes in Uzbek soum: cards are accepted at some stalls but cash is easier. Ask the seller to vacuum-pack dried fruit and nuts if you are flying home; many stalls can do this.

Bread, meat and fresh produce are bought by local people early in the day, so the market is liveliest in the morning. In the afternoon it is calmer and many tourist-oriented stalls are still open. Watch your belongings in crowded rows, as in any busy market.

Siab Bazaar is at the north-east end of Tashkent Street, next to Bibi-Khanym, about 15–20 minutes’ walk from the Registan. It combines naturally with Bibi-Khanym, the Hazrat Khizr mosque on the hill opposite and the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, all within a few minutes on foot. If you want to see the bazaar at its busiest, come early; if you mainly want to shop for gifts, any time of day works. Markets in Uzbekistan traditionally close one day a week for cleaning; ask locally which day.

A visit to Siab is also a chance to eat. Around the edges of the market and in the nearby streets you will find stalls and small cafés serving samsa (baked pastries filled with meat and onion), skewers of grilled meat, fresh bread straight from the oven and plov at lunchtime, when it is served from huge cauldrons. In summer, juice sellers press fresh pomegranate or carrot juice, and in autumn you can buy a slice of melon to eat on the spot.

Samarkand has its own style of plov, cooked in layers rather than stirred, and many local families insist on buying the rice, carrots and spices for it here. If you are interested in cooking, ask a guide to explain the different kinds of rice and the yellow and red carrots used in Uzbek kitchens. Spice sellers will happily let you smell their cumin and barberries, and a small bag of plov spices is one of the easiest souvenirs to carry home.

For tea lovers, look for green tea, black tea and herbal mixtures sold loose by weight. Uzbek families drink green tea with almost every meal, and a tea set or a small bowl (piala) from the bazaar makes a practical reminder of the trip.

Bibi-Khanym is next door, Hazrat Khizr on the hill opposite and Shah-i-Zinda a ten-minute walk away.