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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.