Where to stay in Uzbekistan: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva

Four bases on one westward line

Both of our first-trip routes start in Tashkent and move west by train. The seven-day itinerary gives two nights each to Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara and returns to the capital by train on day 7; the ten-day route adds a third Samarkand night for the day trip to Shahrisabz and two nights in Khiva, then flies back from Urgench. Neither doubles back, so you make one booking per city and never sleep in the same town twice.

Book the train seats before the rooms. Domestic train tickets go on sale 60 days ahead, and the Bukhara–Khiva train 706, which leaves Bukhara-1 at 15:45 and reaches Khiva at 20:25, runs every day except Monday. Once those dates hold, book the hotels in the order you reach them.

The four bases compare like this; each room is the hotel's own rate for two people, checked on 1 November 2026:

Totals for two in brackets include 12% VAT where the rate leaves it out and each hotel's tourist tax for two, at the central bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

In the four hotels of the table, the nine nights of the ten-day route come to about UZS 11.1 million for two, and the six nights of the seven-day route (Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara) about UZS 8.0 million. For upscale rooms, the trip-cost guide prices a comfort hotel in each city.

Tashkent: the old-city end of the centre

Tashkent is two cities. The old one, around Chorsu Bazaar and the Khast Imam complex, has the domes, madrasa courtyards and market halls; the modern centre around Amir Temur Square has the broad avenues, squares, fountains and main museums. Sleep at the old-city end of the centre, in the Shaykhantakhur district: the bazaar and Khast Imam are then on foot, and the squares and museums are a metro or taxi ride away. The metro runs daily from 06:00 to 00:00, and its stations, every one decorated differently, are a sight in themselves. Our Tashkent guide gives the old city one day and the centre the other.

Our pick is MIRZO Boutique Hotel, at 4 Zarqaynar Street in Shaykhantakhur, about 500 metres from Chorsu Bazaar and 1.6 km from Khast Imam; Amir Temur Square is about 3.5 km away. Built in Uzbek national style, it lists a twin of 15 square metres, with two separate beds and windows onto a quiet courtyard, at USD 95, about UZS 1.4 million a night for two, and it offers airport transfers. Tashkent Central station is about 5 km from it, roughly UZS 20,000 by app taxi. The budget choice, Orzu Hotel, a 38-room hotel at Kichik Mirobod 14 in the Yakkasaray district south of the centre, lists a double for non-residents at UZS 770,000 a day with 12% VAT included, about UZS 0.9 million, and advertises free breakfast; it is about 2 km from Tashkent Central, roughly UZS 10,000 by app taxi, but further from the old city.

Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport (TAS) is about 6 km from the centre. Order a car in the Yandex Taxi or MyTaxi app, which the national tourism board names for Tashkent; allow about UZS 50,000 a ride. If you land after midnight, when the metro has stopped, book MIRZO's airport transfer with your flight number, or order the app taxi from the arrivals hall rather than taking a car offered at the door. For Samarkand, Afrosiyob 766 leaves daily at 07:21 and arrives at 09:51 (2 h 30); economy costs UZS 311,000 on the fares in force since 1 February 2026. The conventional trains and the Khiva train leave from Tashkent Central, and some Fergana Valley trains from Tashkent-Yuzhny (South), about 7 km from MIRZO; for the Afrosiyob, check the station on your e-ticket. The station taxi figures in this section are estimates at Yandex's published Tashkent tariff and the airport figure is an allowance, and the transport guide lists which trains use which station.

Samarkand: the old town between the Registan and Bibi-Khanym

Samarkand's great monuments sit in a line through the old town: Gur-e-Amir, Timur's ribbed blue mausoleum, about 1 km south-west of the Registan; the Registan itself, three madrasas around a square; then Bibi-Khanym, Siab Bazaar and, past them, the tiled street of Shah-i-Zinda. Sleep anywhere on that line and both evenings end on foot at the Registan, which stays open from 07:00 to 24:00 between 20 February and 20 November (from 08:00 in winter). Book two nights, or three if you take the day trip to Shahrisabz, keeping the same room throughout.

Our pick, Bibikhanum Hotel, at 10 Tashkent Street, stands beside the Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Siab Bazaar, five minutes on foot from Shah-i-Zinda and ten from the Registan. It has 18 rooms around a leafy courtyard and a restaurant, and lists a double or a twin at USD 95, about UZS 1.4 million a night for two. The comfort choice, L'Argamak, at the other end of the line, at 4 Sulton Muhammad, overlooks Gur-e-Amir and the Registan, five and ten minutes' walk away; its double is from EUR 99 with breakfast and 20% VAT included, plus its local tax of EUR 3 a guest, about UZS 1.4 million a night for two. The budget choice, Registon Saroy, a family hotel at Sozangaron Street 66, 400 metres from the Registan; it lists a standard double at UZS 640,000 a night with free breakfast, about UZS 0.8 million for two.

Trains stop at Samarkand station, about 5 km north-west of the Registan; a Yandex taxi to the old town costs roughly UZS 15,000–25,000 at its published Samarkand tariff. Moving on, the conventional train 710 leaves Samarkand at 11:55 and reaches Bukhara-1 at 14:10 (2 h 15) on the timetable effective 9 September 2025. If you fly in, Samarkand International Airport (SKD) is about 5 km north of the Registan, and buses M1 and 256 run from in front of the arrivals hall to the railway station daily from 06:00 to 21:00 for UZS 3,000 in cash. Our Samarkand guide fits the monuments into two days.

Bukhara: within a walk of Lyabi-Hauz

Lyabi-Hauz, "by the pond" in Uzbek, is the square at the heart of old Bukhara: a pool framed by the Kukeldash madrasa and the madrasa and khanaka of Nadir Divan-Begi, with a trading street that grew up beside it when this was a Silk Road post. The trading domes, the Poi-Kalon ensemble and the Ark are all a walk from it, and most of the shops line the square and the domes. Choose a room within a few minutes of the pond and the two days in our Bukhara guide need no taxi at all.

Our pick, Komil Boutique Hotel, occupies a 19th-century house at 40 Barakiyon Street. Its standard double is USD 80 from 15 March to 15 November and USD 70 in winter, with a homemade breakfast and the official registration in Bukhara included: about UZS 1.2 million a night for two, or UZS 1.1 million in winter. The budget choice, Hotel Kamelot, a 3-star hotel of 20 rooms at 6 Aini Street in the centre of the old city, lists a double or twin for non-residents at USD 60 with a buffet breakfast, payable in soums at the central bank's rate on the day you pay, about UZS 0.9 million a night for two.

Bukhara's trains stop at Bukhara-1, in the town of Kagan, about 12 km from Lyabi-Hauz. At Yandex's published Bukhara tariff an app taxi for that ride costs roughly UZS 20,000–30,000. Train 706 to Khiva leaves Bukhara-1 at 15:45; on the seven-day route, Afrosiyob 769 leaves the same station for Tashkent daily at 14:58 and arrives at 19:17 (4 h 19). Bukhara International Airport (BHK) is only about 5 km from Lyabi-Hauz, roughly UZS 10,000–15,000 by app taxi, and Uzbekistan Airways lists Tashkent–Bukhara flights from UZS 241,274 from 16 October 2026.

Khiva: sleep inside the walls of Itchan Kala

Itchan Kala, the inner town of Khiva, is a fortress city whose walls go back to the 5th and 6th centuries: stone-paved lanes, madrasas, mosques and minarets, and new buildings dressed to match the old. The national tourism board counts more than 100 mosques, madrasas, minarets and mausoleums in Khiva. Sleep inside the walls: the lanes empty once the day visitors leave, Kalta Minor rises by the west gate, and two nights give you an arrival evening, one full day and a slow morning before you go. Our Khiva guide has the monuments and the combined ticket.

Our pick, Meros B&B, a guesthouse the Matkarimov family has run since 1999, lies inside the mud walls not far from the western and northern gates, at A. Boltaev Street 57. It lists a double at USD 50 and a twin with balcony at USD 60 a night, breakfast included: about UZS 0.7 million and UZS 0.9 million for two. The comfort choice, Ulli Oy Boutique Hotel, in an old restored house at Buyoqchi Street 8 in Itchan Kala, is 200 metres from the main street of restaurants and minarets; its Superior Double, with a king-size bed, is USD 65 for one or two guests, with a local breakfast, about UZS 1.0 million a night for two.

Hotels outside the walls, such as Asia Khiva just beyond Itchan Kala, publish no nightly rate online and give up the quiet lanes after dark, which are the reason to sleep in Khiva.

Train 706 from Bukhara reaches Khiva at 20:25. The station is outside the walls, about 1.6 km from the west gate, so ask the hotel to meet you or take a short taxi. Urgench International Airport (UGC) is about 32 km from Khiva's west gate. Train 7055 leaves the airport at 08:40 and reaches Khiva at 09:22 for UZS 25,000 an adult; the only train back, 7058, leaves Khiva at 21:00. At other times take a car: at Yandex's published Urgench tariff an app ride costs roughly UZS 50,000–80,000.

Registration, tourist tax and the extra regions

Every foreign visitor must be registered within three days of arrival, Saturdays and Sundays included, and at a hotel the staff do it for you when you hand over your passport at check-in. If you stay longer than three days in another city, you register again there. Keep each hotel's registration slip until you leave, because officials can ask for a full record of where you stayed on departure. In a private house or a rented flat, the host registers you with the local OVIR office or on the electronic Emehmon system; our entry guide sets out the rules by passport.

On top of the room, each foreign guest aged 16 and over pays a tourist tax that depends on the size of the hotel, from UZS 22,000 to 66,000 a night; the totals in this guide include it.

Two extensions add bases of their own: the Fergana Valley, east of Tashkent, for the ceramics workshops of Rishtan, the valley's silk weaving and the mosques of Kokand, and Nukus and Moynaq in Karakalpakstan, which ends in Khiva. Each takes about two extra nights, booked as extra days rather than in place of one of the four cities.