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Samarkand
The Registan, Gur-e-Amir, and Shah-i-Zinda at eight in the morning when the tilework is lit sideways.
Central Asia
Uzbekistan
The Silk Road, on high-speed rail
From Delhi
≈2 h 50 Delhi–Tashkent, direct
Visa
Among the most open policies in the region; confirmed for your passport before booking
Currency
Uzbek som (UZS)
Language
Uzbek; Russian widely spoken
Uzbekistan is the most photogenic country we sell and the one people know least about before they go. The Registan at Samarkand is the obvious image; what surprises visitors is Bukhara, which is not a monument but a functioning old city you can walk across in twenty minutes.
The Afrosiyob high-speed train changed this route completely. Tashkent to Samarkand in a little over two hours means no internal flights, no long transfers, and evenings spent where the light is best rather than in a car.
Where you will go
Where you will go
The places this country is actually about, and what each one is for.
Bukhara
A whole old city, still lived in. Stay inside the walls, not on the ring road.
Tashkent
Soviet modernism, a metro built as a museum, and the best plov in the country at lunchtime only.
Khiva
A walled city small enough to see in a day and good enough to stay two. The quiet end of the Silk Road.
Know before you go
- July and August routinely pass 40 °C. We will talk you out of those months.
- Train seats sell out weeks ahead in spring; the itinerary is built around booked rail, not hoped-for rail.
- Alcohol is available but modest — this is not a country you visit for its bars.
Gallery — Uzbekistan
Journeys
Journeys in Uzbekistan
The four Silk Road cities, joined by high-speed rail instead of eight-hour drives. Early access at Shah-i-Zinda, a working silk workshop in Bukhara, and Khiva as the quiet finish.
Four capitals, three nights in each
Three nights in each, with Chimgan and Shymbulak
Samarkand by fast train, then the Stalin Line
Samarkand and Bukhara by fast train, then the mountains above Almaty
Tashkent, Chimgan, Samarkand and Bukhara by fast train
Three nights, two rounds
Two rounds and a day in the city