Last Updated on: 15th August 2026, 11:48 pm
Located about 60 km southwest of Bukhara, Paykend is an overlooked archaeological site that few tourists venture to see. Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of it before arriving in Bukhara, but a photo in a guidebook caught my eye. And with an extra day in town, I decided to visit.
But fair warning – despite Paykend’s long history, roughly stretching from the 4th century BC to the 12th century AD, there’s not much left to see. As such, this is a site for hardcore archaeology enthusiasts only.
Unlike Uzbekistan’s heavily restored historical sites, Paykend is raw, unguarded, and requires significant imagination to picture in its former glory. But for those who enjoy exploring ancient ruins on their own terms, it’s a refreshing alternative to Uzbekistan’s heavily restored monuments.
The ride to Paykend is about 70 minutes from central Bukhara, but no public transport goes there. So your options are to either negotiate a roundtrip fare with a driver in town, or hail a driver via Yandex Go.
I chose the latter option and was able to reach the site for just about $10. The problem was, however, figuring out how to get back. Learn more on getting to (and back from) Paykend at the end of the article, along with tips on accommodation in Bukhara.
The Paykend Museum
Established in 2003 near the archaeological site, it would be a good idea to start your visit at the on-site museum. Though the prices weren’t clearly listed anywhere, I was asked to pay a total of 50,000 som including a photography fee. There was no additional fee to access the ruins.
Conveniently, the museum features descriptions in three languages: Uzbek, Russian and English.
The museum showcases Paykend’s role as a major Silk Road trading hub. On display are ceramics from as early as the third to as late as the 10th century AD. The glazed ceramics largely date from the 8th century and made in colors like brown, yellow, and teal.
Other ceramics, meanwhile, were stamped with vegetal and bird motifs.
You’ll also encounter various terracotta figurines, bone carvings, jewelry, and medical devices from the 9th-10th centuries.
Perhaps most tellingly, the collection includes coral and beads from the Indian Ocean region, alongside evidence of trade with China and Khorezm (northwest Uzbekistan).
This confirms that Paykend, then part of the ancient region of Sogdia, was part of an extensive trading network connecting Bactria, Iran, Anatolia, and beyond.
Especially eye-catching are the fragments of ancient mural paintings, though the informational placards didn’t provide many details about them.
For those who also plan on visiting Tajikistan, the site of Ancient Panjakent was also part of Sogdia, and many of its fantastic mural paintings were discovered intact.
The museum also displays religious artifacts reflecting Paykend’s multicultural character: statues of a Sogdian goddess with a flower, a Yakshini, (a female nature spirit in Hinduism and Buddhism), and a Fravashi (a Zoroastrian winged protector deity).
We’ll be getting more into Paykend’s history shortly.
The Ruins of Paykend
The ruins are a quick drive from the museum, though it’s also possible to walk there in about ten minutes if you’ve already said goodbye to your driver.
Approaching from the road, you’ll see a large mound in the distance which is where you can begin your explorations. But as we’ll cover shortly, the site is a lot more expansive than it first looks.
Paykend originally consisted of a square citadel, two residential areas, and a necropolis. And the entire city was surrounded by thick mudbrick walls. Originally, the Zarafshan River flowed nearby, providing water for agriculture, fishing, and trade.
Today, with zero on-site signage, much imagination is required to picture what Paykend may have looked like in its prime. But that’s part of the charm for archaeology enthusiasts, and Paykend makes for an interesting contrast with the heavily refurbished sites in Uzbekistan’s more touristic cities.
If this type of place is more up your alley, also consider visiting Termez in the south of the country, along with some of the ancient fortresses nearby Khiva.
As mentioned, Paykend was centered around a citadel and the city was fortified with thick mudbrick walls.
But the area was also comprised of two different residential districts (referred to as ‘Shahristans’) with the total area of the city stretching out to over 20 hectares. And Paykend even had suburbs stretching out well beyond that!
As I explored the ruins on my own, I often couldn’t tell quite what I was looking at. One particular section, however, appeared to be the necropolis given the amount of human bones sticking up from out of the dirt.
Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion throughout Paykend’s early history. Before the Islamic conversion, inhabitants practiced the Zoroastrian custom of ‘sky burials,’ leaving corpses in Towers of Silence for vultures to devour. The bare bones were then deposited in ossuaries.
Multiple times, I thought I’d reached the end of the site, only to discover entire additional sections. It’s clear this was once a sprawling, sophisticated city. But how did such an elaborate city thrive for so long in such a remote location?
First inhabited since Neolithic times, a city first formed here around the 4th century BC due to its convenient location near the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya rivers.
As mentioned, Paykend was part of the ancient region of Sogdia. And its position in between India, Bactria, and Iran made it an important city both commercially and militarily. As such, the fortification walls came into being from around the 1st century BC.
In the 3rd-4th centuries AD, Paykend was part of – or at least influenced by – the Kushano-Sassanian Kingdom, a ‘sub-kingdom’ of the broader Persian Sassanian Empire. And roughly around this time, Paykend became a merchant-oriented society.
Paykend would reach its zenith from the 6th-8th centuries AD. And the city rapidly expanded throughout this era.
A large part of its prosperity was due to the increasing prevalence of the Silk Road which was heavily promoted by Tang China. In fact, for much of its history, Paykend was ruled by a traders’ council rather than a single governor.
In 705-6 AD, Arab forces under Qutaiba ibn Muslim conquered the city. The population eventually rebelled against paying tribute, prompting a brutal revenge massacre.
But despite this trauma, Paykend recovered and continued to thrive as an Islamic center, with mosques springing up throughout the city.
As I explored, I continually encountered trenches and pits dug by archaeologists, in addition to foundations of Pyakend’s original structures.
Though I surely walked through it at some point, I had a difficult time telling which part would’ve been the ancient citadel. In any case, the citadel was once home to a Zoroastrian Fire Temple for centuries before it was replaced with a mosque.
How, then, did such a sprawling city essentially turn to dust after centuries of prosperity? According to archaeologists, from around the 12th century, the Zarafshan River changed its course, eventually making the city uninhabitable.
Archaeological findings, however, indicate that the city may have been inhabited until as late as the 14th century. So it seems that the shift was quite gradual.
The nearby city we now simply call Bukhara then became the prominent city of the Bukhara Oasis.
Feeling like I’d seen almost everything, I decided to head back toward the entrance along the periphery of the ruins rather than directly back through them.
On the way, I passed by countless pottery fragments, a few of which seemed like they’d fit well within the museum displays.
Before long, I walked past the remnants of a large tower that I’d previously missed. It’s easily one of the visual highlights of Paykend, though that’s not saying much given the site’s minimalist appearance.
Though I enjoyed my visit, as mentioned, visiting Paykend is certainly not for everyone.
It was a scorching hot day, and without a ride back to the city (more below), I decided that it was best to start the long walk over to the main highway.
All in all, I spent a little over an hour at the ruins of Paykend, plus an additional thirty minutes or so at the museum.
Additional Info
As mentioned above, the best options for reaching Paykend are either negotiating a price with a private driver in town, or using the Yandex Go app.
There are certainly advantages to the former. Not only would you not need to worry about a ride back, but you could also combine a visit to another nearby ancient site such as Varaksha.
I did talk to drivers about visiting both sites, and while I can’t recall the exact price they quoted me, I believe it was around $50 USD.
But after seeing that the one-way journey via Yandex was just around $10, I decided to try my luck with that option. I was visiting Uzbekistan as part of a year-plus journey across Asia, and needed to save every dollar or som that I could.
While I did end up making it to Paykend with the app, this experience revealed some major flaws with Yandex Go that I’d never experienced before with other apps like Uber, Didi, or Grab.
The first driver to accept my request made me wait for him, only to tell me that Paykend was ‘too far!’ I was then even charged a small cancellation fee by the app!
Fortunately, a new driver accepted not long after. While I’ll cover the other major problem I had with the app shortly, the drive itself was a strange adventure. My driver drove erratically while making bizarre cartoonish noises throughout the ride. I went back and forth between feeling amused and terrified.
I thought that he might be drunk, but he was wearing a tubeteika, which signified that he was a devout Muslim. In any case, his behavior was very odd.
At one point, he called his daughter who spoke a tiny bit of English to translate for me. She asked if I would also need a ride back to Bukhara and I told her ‘yes.’ I asked how much, and she said that we could just do it again through the app.
Based on our conversation, it seemed like the driver was fine with just starting a new ride on the app once I was finished exploring. They didn’t mention anything about wait time, so I figured he was just happy to get two relatively high-paying journeys back-to-back.
But as I was exploring the museum, I checked my app and saw that the ride was not officially completed. I was still being charged!
This is where one of the major flaws with Yandex Go comes in (at least at the time of my visit): the rider cannot end the ride, nor will the app automatically mark the ride as complete once the destination is reached. Only the driver can officially end the ride, it seems.
And if the app is tied to your credit card, there’s seemingly nothing you can do to stop the fee from gradually increasing after exiting the vehicle. I wasn’t sure of the rate, but the fee seemed to be constantly increasing in increments of 1,000 som.
Maybe it would’ve ended up being a small amount, but I really had no idea. Nor did I know how long I’d be spending at the ruins in total. And I just didn’t want to keep having to check my phone while out there.
So I returned to the driver and asked him to end the ride, telling him (via an app) that if he wanted to wait for me, we could negotiate a price off of the app. But he refused, and I had to ask him again and again. I even got some of the museum staff to translate for me, but he wouldn’t do it.
Finally, I had to raise my voice and tell him for the 10th time to end the ride. He reluctantly did it. At this point, I was certain I didn’t want to deal with him again (for multiple reasons) and told him not to wait for me.
The problem was, that the ruins are about an hour on foot from the main highway. So once I was finished, I had to make the long walk there under the scorching sun.
I’m not sure how common public transport is along this road on a normal day, but it happened to be a Sunday when I visited. And there didn’t seem to be public transport of any kind. That left me with no choice but to hitchhike.
After roughly fifteen minutes of getting ignored, a random car finally did stop. It was a family of three, with the mother and daughter sitting in the back. The passenger seat was empty, almost as if they were expecting me.
The family was quite friendly, but barely spoke English. We did some communicating via Google Translate, and they kindly took me all the way to the Ark Citadel.
Note that in Central Asia, a lot of people who pick up hitchhikers expect some type of compensation. I asked the father via Google Translate if I could contribute something, but he hesitated and just shook my hand. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end.
Not only is Bukhara one of Uzbekistan’s most captivating and immersive cities, but it also has some of the best value in regards to accommodation.
I stayed at Madina-Mehribon, a homestay type of accommodation located within a short distance from Chor Minor.
For a very reasonable price, I had a private room with my own bathroom, and a very hearty breakfast was included as well. For some reason, though, breakfast wasn’t served until 9:00 am. But it was good enough to make getting a bit of a late start worth it.
The main downside I dealt with was having to ask repeatedly to get the hotel registration slip from the family that runs it. (More on those shortly.)
Other highly-rated budget hotels include Shom Hotel with Terraca and Hotel Grand House Real Estate.
A popular midrange option is Oasis Boutique. And for those able to splurge, Caravansaray Rashid is one of the top-rated hotels in Bukhara.
Note that when visiting Uzbekistan, you’re supposed to collect little slips from each accommodation proving where you stayed and for how many nights. You may then be asked to show them when leaving the country.
A lot of hotel owners will tell you that the system is digitized now and therefore it shouldn’t matter anymore. There are also many cases where the officers won’t ask anything at all.
But the reality on the ground is that immigration officers are indeed still sometimes asking for the paper slips. And I’ve met some travelers who got themselves into trouble when they couldn’t provide them.
I entered and exited the country twice, and though I wasn’t asked anything during my first exit, I was asked during my second. Fortunately, I had them on me.
Generally speaking, Uzbekistan is one of the easier countries to travel through in Central Asia thanks to its rail network. You can easily book tickets online or via the official Uzbek Railways app.
Coming from Samarkand, you have the choice between either regular speed train (2.5-3.5 hours) or an express ‘Afrosiyob’ train (about 1.5 hours). Numerous trains leave throughout the day.
From Tashkent, the regular train lasts 6-8 hours, while the express train takes a little over four.
It’s also possible to travel between Bukhara and Khiva by train, with the journey lasting around 6.5 hours.
For those coming from Termez, the only option is a shared taxi. That’s what I did, and I paid 250,000 som, or about $20, for the journey.
But while I was told that the journey would last around seven hours, it actually took nearly twelve hours in my case due to various issues along the way. Note that it’s also possible to break up the Termez>Bukhara journey in the city of Qarshi.