Uzbekistan travel tips from our 10 days in Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent
Our ‘stans trip in Central Asia started off in Turkmenistan, but most of our two weeks in the region was actually spent in Uzbekistan travelling independently without a guide except for a few select day trips out of the cities.
We spent 10 days in Uzbekistan exploring three key cities: starting out in the quaint old city of Bukhara, continuing on to the grand architecture of Samarkand and finally ending off in the modern capital Tashkent. Here are some Uzbekistan travel tips and my recap of our independent travel around Uzbekistan without a tour group, including some important things to note if you are planning your own trip.
Why visit Uzbekistan?
What little I knew about Uzbekistan before this trip was what I had seen in photographs of the country’s amazing Islamic-style architecture coloured with a very distinctive turquoise blue shade. I definitely saw my fill of these beautiful blue buildings while travelling around Uzbekistan!
Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole is a great region for history lovers because of the rich long history that stretches back millenia, tied up with the trade and movement of knowledge and power along the ancient Silk Road. It’s a lot of information to take in, but even a casual person can still appreciate these historical places, though having some context of history within the region definitely will help.
I like to joke that in Europe, every town basically consists of a Town Centre, Fountain, Church/Cathedral and maybe a Crypt or two. In the Islamic countries, the standard features are all Ms: Madrasahs, Mosques, Mausoleums and a few Market places to boot. You do feel a bit like everything overlaps after awhile, but their grandeur is still amazing.
How to get to Uzbekistan
We entered Uzbekistan from neighbouring Turkmenistan, a 2-hour land crossing navigating 3 shuttle buses through the immigration checkpoints out of Turkmenbashy and into Farap in southern Uzbekistan. After the Farap border, we had pre-arranged car transport that took us to our hotel in Bukhara in about an hour.
Our return journey was an 8 hr flight via Uzbekistan Airways from Tashkent International Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport KLIA. From there we had a bit of a break and layover before hopping onto a Jetstar flight back to Singapore’s Changi Airport. Unfortunately there were no direct flights between Singapore and Uzbekistan, KL was our closest option.
Uzbekistan travel tips
Here are some of the things you should prep when planning for your Uzbekistan trip.
Internet/Mobile Data
I highly recommend getting an e-SIM before your trip or buying a physical SIM card in Uzbekistan. This is essential if you plan to use the Yandex Go app to book cars! Unlike Turkmenistan, the internet situation in Uzbekistan is much better and it was quite easy to get a SIM card.
At our first stop in Bukhara, we found a Ucell shop near the Central Bazaar and went into buy a SIM card. You will need your passport to register your SIM card, but it’s pretty fuss free and bought a SIM card with 66GB of data for just 55,000 Som (about S$5.50).
Having a local number is useful for Yandex Go, though you might encounter drivers who only speak Uzbek trying to call and talk to you.
Yandex Go
Singaporeans are familiar with Grab which started out as a rideshare app but has since become an all-in-one super app. Here in Central Asia, their version is the Russian app Yandex Go, which is a must-have for booking rideshare cars to get around in Uzbekistan, which is much easier than trying to figure out the taxi system. Yandex Go is also very handy for calling food deliveries if you’re not in the mood to head out to eat.
Money
Uzbek currency is known as the Som (UZS). If you plan to exchange currency, bring US dollars with you, or alternatively you can use the ATMs to withdraw money quite easily. There are also banks in the market areas where you can exchange currency if needed.
Language
Uzbek is the national language of course, and like a lot of the region, many people can also speak Russian in these parts. There are English signs and English-speakers in the more touristy parts, and in the market places they can manage some basic English, but don’t expect English to be widespread here.
A note that if you’re Googling for things or checking on Maps, there might be a lot of spelling variations, so be a bit flexible when you are searching. For example in Bukhara, Lyabi Khause can also be represented as Lyabi Hauz, Lyab-i Khauz and other similar variations.
Food and Drink
Uzbekistan’s food skews a bit more meat centric, so shashlik and kebabs are some of the more ubiquitous dishes found in most restaurants. Traditionally you find beef and horse in these parts, though we did manage to find chicken as an option quite often.
Typical Uzbek meals always get served with Non or bread. The bread comes in varied forms depending on the region, but is typically served as one whole round piece. You’re not supposed to slice it, but ‘break bread’ with the table, using your hands to tear off pieces. Accompanying the meat dishes is usually some form of side salad featuring cucumbers, onions and tomatoes.
One pleasant surprise I found in Uzbekistan is this savoury tomato-based soup noodles garnished with beed and tomatoes known as Lagman, which has a fairly strong Chinese/Uyghur influence from its name and taste. It’s a nice contrast to the heavier meat skewers, and we even had a dry version of lagman at one eatery.
Another hearty dish is Mastava, a savoury meaty broth that also includes rice and vegetables, almost like a rice porridge of sorts. This was absolutely fantastic when we encountered some really cold weather in Parkent.
We were a little bit curious about horse meat and finally got to try it in Tashkent’s Chorsu Bazaar. You can get slices of grilled horse meat on chick peas, but a traditional way is to eat the dish known as Norin, where shredded horse meat and hand-pulled noodles are mixed together in a cold pasta dish of sorts. Horse is quite close to beef, and honestly if you didn’t tell me beforehand, I might not know the difference.
Another surprising find at Tashkent’s Chorsu Bazaar was this dish called Honym. From afar it looks a lot like kimchi, but the lady serving us was like, no kimchi! Honym is kinda like a lasagna of sorts, layers of potato dough stuffed with potato strip soaked in a tomato sauce. Very savoury and tasty, I had never heard of this before but I really loved it!
Another Uzbekistan classic you can’t leave the country without trying is Plov. Plov, Pilov, Pilaf – whatever you call it, it’s practically the Uzbek national dish and eaten at most major events. Flavourful long-grain rice almost like a briyani, usually mixed with yellow carrots, onions, chickpeas and meat.
We had plov in several places, but some memorable versions were in Bukhara where we had to pre-order our plov, and in Tashkent where we went to a famous plov restaurant for my birthday dinner!
Tea culture plays quite a big part of local culture, and you’ll see teapots and tea sets on the tables and served at most meals. Perhaps my favourite souvenir from Uzbekistan was their super fresh and fragrant tea that I bought at Chorsu Bazaar – 600gms of 3 different types of fruit tea for S$2?? Unbelievable. I gave some of it away to colleagues and friends and enjoyed super tasty cold brew tea for the next few months in Singapore.
Getting around Uzbekistan
Train
We travelled between Uzbekistan’s main cities from Bukhara to Samarkand, and Samarkand to Tashkent by high speed rail, also known as the Afrosiyob. The Afrosiyob train reminds me of the high speed rail you can find in Japan and Taiwan, very fast and efficient and comfortable.
The trains can be booked online quite easily and paid for via credit card, and you’ll receive a printout of your ticket with the details and QR code. That’s all you need to get past the barriers at the train stations. Make sure to arrive a little early so you have ample time to go to the platform and board the train at your leisure.
The train stations generally are quite basic, you can typically find some small shops like a bakery or coffee shop. There are toilets and seats to wait at but not much else in terms of entertainment, so don’t go to the train stations too early.
The high speed rail from Bukhara to Samarkand took about 2+ hours. It also took about 2 hours to get from Samarkand to Tashkent.
We took 2nd class from Bukhara to Samarkand and honestly those seats were quite comfortable (2-2 configuration) and cheaper – 196,000 som which is about S$20.
We managed to get 1st class tickets for Samarkand to Tashkent, and the main difference is that the seats in 1st class are slightly wider (1-2 configuration) and more comfortable, and you get some food with your ticket which cost 396,000 som (about S$40)
Book Uzbekistan high speed rail train tickets online
Car
Within the cities and getting from our hotel to the train station or airport, we used Yandex Go to book car rides which was generally quite easy and fuss free. Car rides were generally quite cheap, ranging anywhere from 10,000 – 50,000 Som (S$1-5) on average, so that’s even more worth it when split amongst 2-3 people.
A note that in Uzbekistan, a good number of the cars we rode in were generally quite small. We had a group of 5 so we usually split our rides into 2 cars, but sometimes with the 3-pax group would have issues fitting in the luggage because a lot of these cars install LPG tanks in their boot! It’s a strange quirk in Uzbekistan.
If you’re travelling with a lot of luggage, consider splurging a little more on the Yandex Premium cars, where you are more likely to get larger electric cars which are quiet and have lots of boot space. If you’re just going about the city, the smallest Yandex cars are a snug but sufficient fit for 2 pax without any luggage.
We did do day trips, but for those we booked tours separately through Viator so we had privately arranged mini vans for those trips.
Where to go in Uzbekistan
We spent 10 days in Uzbekistan travelling through 3 of its main cities on its eastern side, starting in Bukhara, going to Samarkand and ending in Tashkent.
Bukhara
Our first day in Bukhara was Nowruz, or the Central Asian New Year, so it was quite festive and crowded all around, with hot and sunny weather throughout most of our stay. Our hotel was located in the Old Town area so we spent most of our time exploring the city’s attractions on foot, quite a departure from our time in Turkmenistan where we weren’t sure how much freedom we had at all.
Lots of beautiful old buildings all around Bukhara – the highlight is the Ark of Bukhara, an old lofty fortress in the middle of Bukhara. There were lots of smaller but no less intricate structures here like the Bolo Hauz Mosque with its beautiful ceilings, the Po-I Kalyan tower and complex as well the charming square of Lyabi Khause, a reminder of a time when Bukhara used to have many ponds.
Samarkand
Samarkand’s attractions are more spread out, so we spent more time getting around via Yandex Go here, though we still did do a fair amount of walking. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so good for us as you’ll see from the photos – we had several days of rather depressing rain which makes for shitty photos but doesn’t take away from the majesty of the architecture. Thank goodness for Yandex Go which is also a food delivery app as it kept us fed on days we were too tired to venture out.
Registan Square is obviously a must-see, surrounded by three stately madrasahs and Bibi Khanym Mosque nearby – it’s especially pretty at night with a light and music show, you’ll never get that ‘Samarkand’ song out of your head. Lots of other famous monuments can be found in Samarkand, from the Amir Temur Mausoleum to the Ulugbek Observatory.
Tashkent
Uzbekistan’s capital city is quite modern and a bit of a departure from all the historical monuments that we saw in Bukhara and Samarkand. A lot of this is because of a major earthquake that hit Tashkent in the 1960s that destroyed a lot of the older structures in the city.
One primary feature that Tashkent is known for is its underground metro, and because it was built by the Russians, Tashkent’s metro is a tourist attraction in itself, with several of its metro stops worth dallying in for a bit just to take pictures. Also, taking the metro is ridiculously cheap, and you can just use your contactless credit card so it’s super convenient and a fun change from all the old buildings.
We stayed near the Chorsu Bazaar where we spent a fair amount of time exploring and buying souvenirs from as our last stop before heading home. It was in Tashkent that I celebrated my birthday by feasting on an Uzbek favourite – plov~ We even watched an Italian opera here!
Day trips around Uzbekistan
Besides the three main cities, we also ventured outside to see the rather unusual solar furnace in Parkent, and headed across the border to neighbouring Tajikistan.
Tajikistan – Panjakent + Seven Lakes
Our first day trip in Uzbekistan was from Samarkand where we crossed the border into Tajikistan to visit the scenic Seven Lakes. The lakes were beautiful, each with their own unique characteristics, but unfortunately we only got to see 6 of the 7 lakes because rain the day before had made the ground too wet for driving on, so we couldn’t reach the end.
On the way to and from the border we passed through Panjakent, where there was a really cool old market and some hints of ancient Uzbekistan and ruins all around.
Parkent – Solar Furnace / Heliocomplex
We arrived in Tashkent very, very early in the morning from Samarkand, and rather than aimlessly wait to check into our hotel, we decided to take a day trip to see the Solar Furnace in nearby Parkent. Naturally when you want a day with blazing hot sun to fullly see the effects of an institute based around the powers of the sun, we inevitably end up with some of the coldest weather we would experience on the trip. It SNOWED at one point, believe it or not.
But still the Solar Furnace was a fascinating spot, even if we didn’t get to see the sun in all its glory. We also got to eat lunch in a little village house which had excellent food!
Tajikistan – Khujand
We visited Tajikistan one more time on this trip, but this time from Tashkent. Khujand is one of Tajikistan’s bigger cities after its capital Dushanbe and here we found some interesting sights, like one of the world’s tallest Lenin statues still standing, an absolutely bustling Panjshanbe Market and the weirdly stately Arbob Palace which isn’t an actual palace.
Some final thoughts about Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is one of the more tourist friendly places to visit in Central Asia, especially in contrast to the weirdness of Turkmenistan! Uzbekistan has a great mix of historical monuments and Silk Road history alongside modern-day conveniences like high-speed trains and Yandex Go.
Perhaps the one thing we didn’t really see on this trip to Uzbekistan was a lot of natural wonders (we got our fill in Tajikistan which is 90% mountainous), but I think it’s a great introduction to the region and fairly easy to travel and explore independently.
Stay tuned for more Uzbekistan posts coming up~
Have you been to Uzbekistan? Tell me what I’ve missed! I hope these Uzbekistan travel tips are handy for you. Do check out some of my other ‘stans posts as well.
