Samarkand
3 curiously human self-guided audio tours
Browse all tours in Samarkand
Indoor Tour
60 mins
Walking Tour
120 mins
Walking Tour
60 mins
Introducing our Samarkand tours
Samarkand has been flattened multiple times, but it keeps coming back grander. In 1220 the Mongols sacked it so thoroughly that Afrosiab, the original city, was left in total ruins.
Then Timur, known in the West as Tamerlane, made it his capital and summoned architects and artisans from across his lands. He was not easy to please. Inspecting the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in 1404, he judged the entrance portal too modest and ordered it rebuilt much bigger. He died a just few months later. His grandson Ulugh Beg went on to build an observatory, and the star catalogue it produced was still being published in Oxford in 1665.
VoiceMap's three self-guided tours take you from the tombs of Shah-i-Zinda to the Registan's madrassas, Timur's own mausoleum and the observatory ruins on Kuhak Hill, which an archaeologist rediscovered in 1908.
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- Get turn-by-turn directions
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How the VoiceMap app works
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Focus on your surroundings, not the screen
The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.
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Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions
VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.
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Resume playback to go at your own pace
If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.
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Listen as many times as you like
You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.
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Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast
Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.
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Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync
Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.
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Do tours without paying for data
Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.
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Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group
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