Uzbekistan - perfect itinerary
Landing in Tashkent
I would say that the toughest thing you need to do during this whole trip is to find affordable flights to Tashkent. We did used LOT polish airlines as this was direct option for us.
Protip: there are direct flights to Istanbul from Urgencz, so maybe check out this option and try to plan your journey under it so you can spare some money on the internal flight from Urgencz to Tashkent.
To do list:
- Book train tickets - Uzbekistan is really big country so to visit main sites you need to move around with trains. Most of them are sold out at least 1 week before, so make sure to have a proper bookings done earlier.
- Currency is Uzbek Sum and there are almost no places where you can pay by card so have that in mind while exchanging. We did that directly at the airport and then in the ATM machines that have option to exchange dollars to sum.
- Buy yourself sim card from Ucell at the airport. We had both Ucell and Beeline and the second one was barely working while the first one had signal everywhere.
- Install Yandex Go (their Uber) to move around in all cities.
Day 1 - Exploring Tashkent
The easiest way to explore Tashkent is to use either Yandex Go and underground. From the Chorsu station to Hazrati Complex is 2km so, we decided to order Yandex. The cost of taxis there is really low, so it is really profitable and will save you money you will loose trying to bargain with usual taxi drivers.
We started with the main attraction in Tashkent which is Hazrati Imam Complex.
If you are not super fascinated with each tile, it will take you around 30-60min to see it all. Whole complex is free to visit, as well as the entrance to the mosque. They even provide suits to cover up in case you don't have proper clothing with you.
Then we moved to Chorsu Bazaar (you can go on your feet or order Yandex again). Here you can dive deep into their culture. Time here stopped like 40 years ago and you can feel it and see it. This is also the place to try new food like Plov (Uzbek national dish) or simply eat some fruits and buy water supplies. It is quite strange place, I have to admit.
It is worth to visit at least few metro stations. Most of them are build with pure marble and looks very nice.
We stopped at six of them:
2. Mustakillik maydoni
3. Tinchlik
4. Gafur Gulom
5. Bodomzor
6. Chorsu
Choose ones that suits you the most, for us the best was the 1st one.
Then we moved to the Hotel Uzbekistan. Star of the socrealism in Tashkent, although we don't recommend choosing it as a hotel due to weddings that have place here everyday and soundproofing of the rooms is simply poor.
In a meantime we got hungry a bit and we were looking for some restaurant which will serve some vegetarian dishes. We can recommend eating at Cafe 1991, it can be empty but they really have good Somsa.
With new power to move around the city we did went to brand new mosque built on the way to the TV Tower in Tashkent. Worth to spend here those 10-15 minutes as this was the only mosque we saw that was completely white.
Last stop on our way in Tashkent - Tashkent Tower. Entrance is 50k sum per person and if you want to sit at the panoramic restaurant which actually moves the bill need to be above 100k sum. It is really easy to achive that - we ordered only drinks and easily spent 200k. It was the most expensive restaurant we were in during the whole stay.
Although I need to admit that the views are not super stunning, so in case you want to save some money you can skip this place.
At this point we did go back to the hotel to get our luggage and then moved to the Train Station. Be careful here and read properly the train station on your ticket. If you go to Samarkand directly you will be leaving from the Janubiy Train Station.
Day 2 - Timeless Samarkand
We arrived in the evening to Samarkand and early in the morning started our journey through one of the main cities of the Silk Road.
As we wanted to avoid mass tourism and all group trips we did turned around their schedule and started from the end.
Again we moved around via Yandex Go, so whenever the distance or the heat is giving you a hard time, just use it.
I am not going to explain the history of all this places, neither we used tour guide services, but for sure you will be impressed by the tile work and the scale of it.
What you need to know?
Entrance to all below places beside Hazrat Mosque require a ticket. On average we paid 45k sum per person + fee for camera (50k sum), phones are free.
You need to cover your knees and shoulders - both men and women. Covering head was not required.
I did listed all monuments below in a way we visitied them, so you can use this route as well.
During the day we stopped at 2 restaurants. One with more local food and the second fully european standard, so in case you crave some familiar tastes you want to go to Ronni.
Our hotel was just next to this beutiful complex and we did had some time so we spent golden hour here and we had dinner. Unfortunately there is no pin on the map for the restaurant, but I can tell you to go through the brige and maximum to the left, there will be nice restaurant with big beds to sit on.
Here you will also find souvenirs, bazaar and wine shops, where you can do wine tasting for 150k sum per person, but it is cheaper simply to buy the bottle as the price is around 100k sum. We really liked Peri white wines.
Again... late evening we had a train and we moved to the next city.
Remember that the fast trains are only till Bukhara, so visiting other part of Uzbekistan is more challanging and takes more time.
Day 3 - Enchating Buchara
Bukhara has quite small old town, you can easily see everything in 4h, but the heat here it the highest one. Sightseeing in 40 degrees was challenging. We did 3h break in the afternoon at the swimming pool, so take it into account while planning a visit here.
All points in this city are within 2km distance. There will be plenty of taxi drivers trying to sell you trips around the city, but the truth is that the beauty of this city is only to be seen on foot.
Also here I've placed all pins in a way we did visited them.
Restaurants:
During the day we did a stop for lunch at Jam restaurant, while for the dinner we went with tripadvisor recommendation and booked a table at Zaytoon. This was the bets decision ever. :)
After that we did go back to the train station and started our night journey to Nukus.
As we were travelling in 3, we booked 1 additional seat to have full train compartment. There is no AC and in the morning for sure you will be covered in dust.
Day 4/5 - Vanishing in Aral Sea
Before I will jump into all details I would like to highlight that we didn't see it on our own. We choose to go with travel agency as simply you will go full off road to reach Aral Sea reagion and non of us had the car and the knowlegde how to move around here.
This was also the most expensive attraction for us here, but it is worth it. I think we wouldn't explore enough Uzbekistan without it.
Also here you can choose how many days you want to spend there if two days are not enough for you. Full itineraries you can find on their website.
The biggest worry of ours was the toilette during those 2 days. Well, as for the survival conditions you can imagine this also applies to this matter, so be prepared for basic whole in the ground rather than comfortable seat.
Food
During this trip you have water supplies provided as well as the meals. There are no shops on the way as you are in the middle of nowhere. If you are vegetarian you need to let them know earlier as lunch is basically at one of the local houses. Then there is a "restaurant" on the camp but also you will receive local food that is prepared by the ladies in this place.
In case you are picky eater as us, have some snacks and chips with you. :)
Our trip ended on the second day as well in Nukus.
They organized for us taxi transfer to Khiva. This time on Yandex this could be tough one as this is 2/3h drive. In case this is your plan too and you don't want to wait for train which will last 4h just try this option. We paid 60 dollars for 3 people.
Day 6 - Majestic Khiva
We booked our stay in european standard hotel as we wanted to have fully equiped bathroom to clean up after those 2 days in dust. It is hard to miss in Khiva although we found it funny that most of the local taxi drivers didn't know where it is.
Khiva is quite small town and if you have here full day to spend (we did had time till 3pm because of internal flight to Tashkent after that) you can easily get some sleep in the morning as well.
Main attractions in Khiva are in one place and within 1km range to reach, so really close to each other. Most probably this is also why you buy here 1 ticket to enter the old town (200k sum per person). There is only one gate at which you can buy the ticket - Itchan Kala West Gate.
Additionally to this you can buy 3 tickets to visit - Tower, Mausoleum or Minaret but this is also possible when you already entered the premises so don't worry you don't need to decide at the ticket office.
Although Khiva is the most distant destination it if worth to visit it - for us in terms of atmosphere and the whole experience it was the best city.
...and this is how our trip to Uzbekistan ended.
Optional day 7 - trip to seven lakes Tajikistan
We did added 1 day trip to Tajikistan while in Samarkand. We fully recommend that as it was nice break from seeing the cities.
For this trip you don't need any equipment or any preparation, so the level is easy. If you want to spend more time there, there is also an option to book such trip.
We did it via below link and contacted them directly on What's Up.
For a bit more inspiration, feel free to visit my Instagram page and don't forget to save this small diary.
Enjoy exploring!
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