Samarkand by breakfast, Bukhara by dinner. Uzbekistan is closer than it reads.
Which Registan morning is worth a guide. What the fast train costs and when it sells out. Whether the stranded fishing fleet at Muynak is worth two days of desert track. Reviews of every tour you can book in Uzbekistan.
A mountain lake, a Registan morning, a kazan of plov, and the sea that left.
The four bookings a first week in Uzbekistan hangs off. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The day out of TashkentBest of Tashkent Mountains: Amirsoy, Chimgan & Charvak TripCharvak seen from the ridge and the gondola up Amirsoy, ninety minutes from the capital. The best-value day on the whole site.
02The Samarkand morningHistorical Monuments Guided Walking TourRegistan, Bibi-Khanym and Shah-i-Zinda on foot with someone who can read the tilework. Go before nine, before the coaches.
03The kitchen afternoonVillage Tour with Plov Cooking Class & Home VisitA village outside Samarkand, a kazan of plov you help build, and lunch with the family that cooked it.
04The long way westDaytrip from Khiva to Aral Sea Cemetery of Ships. All in oneRusting trawlers on dry seabed at Muynak, out of Khiva. A full day of desert track, and nobody forgets it.
Two cities or four: the Uzbek circuit, priced by the length of it.
Almost everyone runs the same line west, and the only real question is how far along it you go. Three lengths of trip, what each costs to board, and where it leaves you standing.
Six stops on the Uzbek line, and the best day out in each.
Tashkent for the flights, the metro and the mountains behind it. Samarkand for the domes, Bukhara for the lanes, Khiva for the walls, Shahrisabz for what Timur built at home, and the dry seabed at the far end of the map.
The best day trips out of Samarkand, Tashkent and Khiva.
You will end up with one free morning more than the itinerary planned for. These are the runs that fill it: Shahrisabz over the Takhtakaracha pass, the ridges behind Tashkent, the mud fortresses out in the Khorezm sand.
Uzbekistan’s most booked days out.
Every Uzbek tour we have reviewed →More travellers take these than anything else between Tashkent and Khiva, and each one earns its place here for a different reason.
1
Best of Tashkent Mountains: Amirsoy, Chimgan & Charvak Trip
Spend 8 to 9 hours outside Tashkent with an English or Russian-speaking guide. Visit Amirsoy Resort, ride a cable car, explore Chimgan by chairlift or horseback, and stop at Charvak Lake for photos, swimming, or boating. Guides such as Odil, Mirzo, Maruf, and Asilbek are known for friendly service and flexible pacing.
From · $48
Read our review →
2
Historical Monuments Guided Walking Tour
from $20
3
Samarkand One Day Tour – Departure From Tashkent
from $219
4
Private Samarkand City Tour With Transportation
from $54
5
A City Tour Of Samarkand: The Pearl Of The East
from $16
6
Tashkent City Tour
from $69
7
Full Day Private Tour in Seven Lakes from Samarkand
from $100
8
Samarkand One Day Tour: one day walking & group tour
from $25
Uzbekistan does not stop at the city walls.
Mud-brick fortresses holding their shape in Khorezm sand, felt yurts under the Kyzylkum stars, and a fishing fleet sitting on ground the sea walked away from.
What a day in Uzbekistan actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best Uzbek days come in under the fare from the airport.
Old-town walks with a guide, museum mornings, city tours and the group runs up to the reservoir.
Full days out: Shahrisabz over the pass, the fortress loop from Khiva, a private city day with a car.
Multi-day circuits with a driver, yurt nights in the Kyzylkum and the long run north to the Aral.
Three things that only happen in Uzbekistan.
Tiled domes turn up all over Central Asia. A fishing fleet stranded on dry seabed, mud fortresses standing in open sand since before Islam reached the region, and a felt yurt beside a lake a dam made by accident do not.
The Muynak Ship Cemetery
Muynak was a fishing port until the rivers feeding the Aral were drawn off for cotton and the water pulled back more than a hundred kilometres. The trawlers were left where they sat and they are still there, rusting on sand, with the old lighthouse behind them. It is a long drive from Nukus and the point of going is that nothing about it has been arranged for you.
- 1Daytrip from Khiva to Aral Sea Cemetery of Ships. All in one★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 52 reviews
- 2Aral Sea Adventures (2 day)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 30 reviews
- 3From Khiva To Aral Sea 2-Days One Night In Yurt Stay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 20 reviews
The Desert Fortresses
A line of mud-brick forts stands in the desert north of Khiva, built before Islam reached the region and still holding their shape: Ayaz Kala on its ridge, Toprak Kala below it, walls you can walk the top of. There is no ticket office and no shade anywhere. Most trips take them as a loop on the road between Khiva and Bukhara, which is the sensible way to do it.
- 1Daytrip From Khiva To Ancient Fortresses★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 60 reviews
- 2Guided Tour To Old Fortresses★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 25 reviews
- 3Private Daytrip to 7 Ancient Fortresses of Khorezm★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 25 reviews
Yurt Camps at Aydarkul
The camps sit near Aydarkul, a lake that exists because a Soviet dam overflowed into a desert hollow and nobody drained it again. You get a felt yurt, a camel if you want one, dinner around a fire and a sky with nothing under it for a very long way. The season runs spring to autumn; the camps shut for winter.
- 1Yurt Camp Tour with Night from Bukhara★★★★★★★★★★ 3.8 · 35 reviews
- 2From Khiva To Aral Sea 2-Days One Night In Yurt Stay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 20 reviews
- 3Desert Adventure from Samarkand: Yurt Camp & Aydarkul Escape★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 16 reviews
Four Uzbek bookings that close before you land.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on train seats, desert convoys and a season that closes, none of which take any interest in when your flight lands.
- 012 Days Tour to Bukhara and Samarkand from Tashkent by trainFast-train seats between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara sell out days ahead in spring and autumn. The trip still works without them; it is just several hours longer by road.
- 02Daytrip from Khiva to Aral Sea Cemetery of Ships. All in oneThe run out to Muynak takes two days of desert track and a 4x4 with a driver who has done it before. The operator sets the dates and you fit around them.
- 03Yurt stay and Hiking in the Nurata Mountains tour – 2 daysThe Kyzylkum camps have a fixed number of beds and close for the winter. A spring weekend is the hardest night of the year to get.
- 04Best of Tashkent Mountains: Amirsoy, Chimgan & Charvak TripThe Charvak boats and the Amirsoy gondola run to a season, and in midwinter the same mountain is sold as a ski day instead.
When Samarkand hits forty degrees, go up.
Midsummer on the plain is finished by eleven in the morning and the tilework offers no shade at all. The answer is altitude and timing. The ridges behind Tashkent run ten degrees cooler, the old towns are walkable again after six, and a kitchen is the right place to spend the worst two hours of the day.
By place, west along the line
Tashkent to Khiva, in the order nearly every traveller takes it.
The newest Uzbek tour reviews.
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Uzbekistan 6 Days Private Tour Khiva-Bukhara-Samarkand by Train
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Tashkent City Tour with Hotel Pickup and Drop off
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Transfer Tashkent Airport / Railway Station – Hotel
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6- Day Private Tour to Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand
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