UZBEKISTAN · 8 DAYS
Classic Uzbekistan
Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva in eight days: the four Silk Road cities, by high-speed train and across the Kyzylkum desert.
Guide price from US$1,390 per person
Uzbekistan · 2 to 3 days
Bukhara
More than 140 protected monuments in one walkable old town, among them the Kalyan Minaret, standing since 1127.
Why go
Why Bukhara
Samarkand has the grandest monuments; Bukhara has the best town. The old city is intact and nearly car-free, so you walk from the Ark to Lyabi-Hauz past a thousand years of buildings, and you keep walking in the evening when the lanes empty out.
It is the place to slow down. Two full days is right, and three is not too many. The guesthouses in the old town are the best in the country.
See and do
What to see
- Poi Kalyan
- The minaret (1127), the Kalyan Mosque and the Mir-i-Arab madrasa, still a working seminary.
- The Ark
- The fortress of the emirs, with the throne room and the mosque.
- Lyabi-Hauz and the trading domes
- The pool at the centre, and the covered bazaars of the jewellers, hatters and money-changers.
- Ismail Samani mausoleum
- Tenth century, in patterned brick, and the oldest Islamic monument in Central Asia.
- Chor Minor
- Four small towers over a gatehouse, in a quiet quarter.
- Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa
- The last emir's summer palace, part Russian, part Bukharan.
In pictures
A closer look
Practical
When and how
- How long
- 2 to 3 days
- Best time
- March to May and September to October. July and August pass 40°C.
- Getting there
- The Afrosiyob train from Tashkent takes under four hours, from Samarkand about ninety minutes. Bukhara has an airport with flights from Tashkent.
Tours
Trips that go to Bukhara
SAMARKAND · BUKHARA · 5 DAYS
Samarkand and Bukhara
The two great cities in a long weekend: two nights in each, linked by the Afrosiyob train, from and back to Tashkent.
Guide price from US$890 per person
UZBEKISTAN · 12 DAYS
Silk Road in depth
The four cities plus the Fergana Valley's silk and ceramics, Timur's birthplace at Shakhrisabz, and a night in a yurt in the Kyzylkum.
Guide price from US$2,190 per person
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