Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, in a few days

From Tashkent to the tiled madrasas of Samarkand, the domes of Bukhara and the walled city of Khiva, by train: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Tashkent

Days 1-2

The capital, largely rebuilt after the 1966 earthquake. Its old madrasas survived, and its Soviet metro is decorated like a string of underground palaces.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Old town and Kukeldash madrasa, guidedHalf day · from €15
  The sixteenth-century madrasa beside Chorsu bazaar, and the lanes of old Tashkent around it.
• The metro stations and the museumsHalf day · from €10
  A ride through stations lined with marble, chandeliers and mosaics, then the city's main museums.

✦ Free to visit

• Independence Square
• Chorsu bazaar and its turquoise dome
• The Hazrati Imam complex
• The decorated metro stations

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Gulnara Guesthouse ↗ (€25 a night) · Mid-range: Hotel Uzbekistan ↗ (€70 a night) · Luxury: Hyatt Regency Tashkent ↗ (€160 a night) · All places to stay by budget →

📲 Book things to do in Tashkent on GetYourGuide

2

Samarkand

Days 3-4 · 🚆 Afrosiyob 2h

The great city of the Silk Road and Tamerlane's capital. The Registan, a square framed by three tiled madrasas, is UNESCO-listed.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The Registan, guided2h · from €12
  Three madrasas built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, the high point of Timurid tilework, read with a guide.
• Shah-i-Zinda and the Gur-e-AmirHalf day · from €10
  An avenue of tiled mausoleums climbing a hillside, then the tomb of Tamerlane.

✦ Free to visit

• Bibi-Khanym Mosque, from outside
• Siab bazaar

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Bahodir B&B ↗ (€20 a night) · Mid-range: Hotel Dilshoda ↗ (€65 a night) · Luxury: Hotel Savitsky Plaza ↗ (€140 a night) · All places to stay by budget →

📲 Book things to do in Samarkand on GetYourGuide

3

Bukhara

Days 5-6 · 🚆 Afrosiyob 1h30

A holy city of Central Asia whose old centre has come through almost intact, from the Kalon minaret to its covered trading domes. UNESCO-listed.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Old town and the Ark fortress, guidedHalf day · from €12
  The citadel the emirs of Bukhara ruled from, and the old merchant streets below it.
• The Kalon minaret and its madrasas2h · from €8
  A minaret of 1127, about 46 metres tall, said to have been spared by Genghis Khan, with the mosque and madrasa that face each other at its foot.

✦ Free to visit

• The Lyab-i Hauz pool
• The trading domes
• Bolo Hauz Mosque and its carved wooden columns
• The carpet, silk and knife workshops

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Rumi Hostel ↗ (€14 a night) · Mid-range: Hotel Minzifa ↗ (€60 a night) · Luxury: Mercure Bukhara ↗ (€120 a night) · All places to stay by budget →

📲 Book things to do in Bukhara on GetYourGuide

4

Khiva

Day 7 · 🚆 Night train 6h

An oasis town whose inner city, Itchan Kala, sits inside mud-brick walls, with turquoise-tiled madrasas and minarets. UNESCO-listed.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Itchan Kala, the walled city (ticket)Half day · from €12
  One ticket for the museums, madrasas and monuments of a walled town that people still live in.
• Climbing the Islam Khoja minaret1h · from €6
  The tallest minaret in Khiva, finished in 1910, with a view over every dome in town.

✦ Free to visit

• The mud-brick walls
• The turquoise madrasas, from outside
• Sunset over the old town from the walls
• The lanes of the museum city

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Meros B&B ↗ (€25 a night) · Mid-range: Orient Star Khiva ↗ (€60 a night) · Luxury: Asia Khiva Hotel ↗ (€110 a night) · All places to stay by budget →

📲 Book things to do in Khiva on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

The Afrosiyob train · The high-speed train links Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in a few hours. Khiva lies further west: take the overnight train, or fly to Urgench, about 30 km away. Tickets sell out, so book early.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Plov: rice cooked with mutton, carrots and onions in a great iron pot. The national dish, eaten at lunchtime.
• Shashlik: skewers of lamb or beef, grilled over charcoal in the bazaars.
• Manti: large steamed dumplings filled with meat and onion.
• Lagman: hand-pulled noodles, in a soup or stir-fried.
• Non and green tea: the round bread baked on the wall of a clay oven, and the tea served with every meal.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Keep the registration slips your hotels give you: border guards can check them when you leave.
• Carry some cash in US dollars or euros. Cards work in city hotels, less so in bazaars and small towns.
• Cover shoulders and knees in mosques and madrasas.
• Summer heat regularly passes 40 °C in Bukhara and Khiva: sightsee early and late.

Words that help

English ↔ Uzbek

✈️ Flight delayed by 3 hours or more, or cancelled? You may be owed up to €600. Check your flight on AirHelp.

The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/uzbekistan

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos: Pexels and Wikimedia Commons (Gustavo Jeronimo from Aranjuez, Spain, CC BY 2.0) · Details are indicative, check before you leave.