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Silk Road Samarkand, Central Asia’s largest tourist complex, has opened Waterland, a new family-friendly aqua park offering 18 water slides and other attractions for aquatic thrill-seekers of all ages. The new facility was opened yesterday (Wednesday) by Rustam Kobilov – Deputy Governor of the Samarkand Region for Tourism, Culture, Cultural Heritage, and Mass Communications.
The 11,536 square metre park’s other facilities include a food court and a children’s play area. Admission is free to anyone staying in the eight hotels currently at Silk Road Samarkand. Families living or holidaying elsewhere in Samarkand, or the surrounding region, can access the waterpark with children up to six years of age entering for free, and those from 7-16 years accessing the facility at half price.
Silk Road Samarkand is situated on 260 hectares and opened two years ago. It sits in the outskirts of an historic city that is said to date back as far as 8,000 or 7,000 BC and was dubbed a ‘Crossroads of Cultures’ when added to the UNESCO World Heritage List for its outstanding architecture, historic areas and landscapes.
Silk Road Samarkand has been developed in the area around the city’s Republican Rowing Canal and now incorporates offers eight world class 5- and 4-star hotels with almost 1,200 rooms. There is also an international congress centre, an expo centre covering 4,000 square metres, parks, sports arenas, 30 restaurants, bars, cafes and nightclubs, plus much more for leisure, business, gastronomic and health tourism.
During its second year of opening, significant developments at Silk Road Samarkand include:
– Hilton Hotels & Resorts rebranding three hotels as Hilton Samarkand Regency, Hilton Garden Inn Samarkand Afrosiyob and the Hilton Garden Inn Samarkand Sogd; with more international hotel groups soon expected at the resort.
– New bars, cafes and restaurants offering a wide range of dining options for casual and business meals, plus new banqueting space for up to 500 guests;
– Shops offering traditional oriental sweets made by a fourth-generation family, alongside craft workshops for handmade ceramics, jewellery and accessories;
– The Koran Museum, a small facility built in traditional Islamic style to house manuscript editions of the Koran that have been collected from all over the Islamic world, together with other scientific and Islamic literature of cultural significance;
– A 300-metre-long karting track for karting enthusiasts aged 14 years and over;
– New children’s rides in a playground located in the Amphitheatre area.
More than two dozen international events have been held at Silk Road Samarkand – including the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a round of the World Triathlon Championship Series, and the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Earlier this summer the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of world motorsport, staged its 120th Anniversary Conference at Silk Road Samarkand.
The Silk Road Samarkand resort forms part of a huge growth in tourism to Uzbekistan, with 10 million tourists expected to visit the country in 2024.
Large-scale tourism projects, like Silk Road Samarkand, are being carefully planned to ensure that the city’s rich architectural heritage is protected for future generations. New infrastructure and facilities for 21st century tourists include the state-of-the-art Samarkand International Airport, which is now connected with an increasing number of international flights across central and south-east Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
