Hi everyone,
We’re back from our vacation in Uzbekistan with our kids—a wonderful trip with amazing memories! I’m sharing our itinerary and a few tips.
**Khiva + Aral Sea (3 days)**
- Arrived in Urgench at 5 AM on Saturday
- Transferred to Khiva and spent the day exploring the city (that’s enough time). Among other sights, we struggled to find the Tash Khauli harem—it’s totally worth it!
- Sunday: headed to Moynaq (the ship graveyard of the Aral Sea). On the way, we stopped to visit two fortresses in the desert—there are about fifty in varying states of repair. Really beautiful, especially Ayaz-Kala. We continued to Moynaq on a rough road (4-hour drive).
- Monday: visited the ship graveyard and the small museum. There isn’t much to see, but we thought it was worth it to understand the consequences of human activity—a real eye-opener. It’s true that it’s a long drive, so you’ll have to decide for yourselves. On the way back to Nukus, we stopped to visit the Mizdakhan necropolis (worth it, even if it doesn’t compare to Bukhara or Samarkand’s buildings—it’s no match for them ;-))
- Evening: flight to Tashkent (saved us a day of travel to get to Bukhara from Khiva)
**Ferghana Valley (3 days)**
- Tuesday morning: left Tashkent by train to reach Margilan by noon.
- Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday: visited Margilan’s market, silk/ceramic workshops, and dutar-making (a traditional two-stringed, bulging violin). Arrived in Kokand in the evening.
- Thursday: explored Kokand (the palace is worth it)
- Summary: Margilan and Fergana aren’t very pretty—only the workshops are interesting. Don’t miss Kokand. This leg could’ve been done in 2 days.
- Left Kokand by overnight train to Bukhara (note on overnight trains: *very* small cabins—but for us, overnight train rides are a must ;-)!)
**Bukhara (3 days)**
- Arrived Friday morning: 3 days there—perfect for seeing (and revisiting) everything at our own pace.
- Hired a French-speaking guide for one day—really helpful for understanding the history and politics, and getting a better grasp of Uzbekistan.
**Toward Lake Aydar Kul (2 days)**
- Left Monday morning by car for the lake. On the way, stopped at a renowned ceramicist’s workshop and to see Neolithic petroglyphs. Note on the petroglyphs: there’s apparently a 3 km walk to see quite a few, but we skipped it due to time—we regret it! For the kids, it was like a treasure hunt, searching for the petroglyphs among the rocks—they loved it.
- Arrived in the evening at a yurt camp with traditional music. The yurts were fun, but we ate in a very Westernized restaurant with way too many tourist groups for our taste.
- The next day: a 2-hour camel ride in the desert to see plants and animals. We saw a few things, but it wasn’t very interesting unless you’re going from point A to point B. Then left the camp for Lake Aydar Kul—we ate at a lakeside restaurant, but it was pointless. There must be nice spots, but this one was a bust.
- Drove to Samarkand (4 hours)
**Samarkand (2 days)**
- Wednesday–Thursday: explored this stunning city. Two days are enough to see everything, but three would’ve been better to take more time to wander and revisit certain spots.
- Another day with a French-speaking guide—we confirm it’s worth it!
**Urgut (1 day)**
- Friday: 1.5 hours from Samarkand, in the mountains. AMAZING! A 3-hour hike in the mountains with a guide (you can do longer). We stayed in a guesthouse—so peaceful, with the sound of the stream and mountain views. It deserves 2 days.
- Left by train that evening for Tashkent
**Tashkent (2 days)**
- Saturday: visited Chorsu Market (incredible—even though we’d been to several markets, Tashkent’s is wild), the TV Tower (for the view, but not much else), and lunch at The Plov Center (at the base of the tower)—a plov factory, so cool! You can see the kitchens, it’s insane! Spent a relaxed afternoon on Broadway: a park with ping-pong tables, archery, ice cream stands—great with the kids.
- Sunday: Chimgan—took the cable car at a ski resort (no snow this time of year), had a picnic at the top of the mountain—nice.
- Evening: off to Tashkent Airport and goodbye, Uzbekistan!
**A few tips:**
- In cities, *must* download Yandex Go—super practical, fast, and cheap for getting around.
- We bought a Ucell SIM card: 80 GB of data for 50,000 sums (around 3 €). We put it in an old phone and connected our two phones to it—so handy!
- Uzbeks are *so* nice, welcoming, and helpful.
- Thank you, Google Translate—few people speak English.
- The beds are hard… I think it’s an Uzbek thing!!
- Guesthouses: between 50 and 70 € per night for the four of us. Comfortable enough, private bathroom, but not luxury.
- Meals: we mostly looked for Uzbek restaurants without tourists. Around 200,000 sums per meal (about 15 €). If you add wine, it adds up fast—one glass of wine = the price of a dish.
- Don’t hesitate to buy from markets for picnics (samsa, dried cheese balls, fruits and veggies, bread). You can even taste before buying. Some good (and not-so-good) discoveries ;)
- Everything is very clean: the streets, the cities, the accommodations.
**Special thanks to our organizer, Sardor (fluent in French):**
I contacted him by email before we left; he optimized the program we’d planned. He set us up with French-speaking guides and handled all the transport and activities outside the four main cities. Super available via WhatsApp and phone while we were there. All the drivers/guides were *very* punctual. DM me if you need his info.
There you go. Sorry for the long post, but I looked for some of this info before we left—I figured it might help someone.
Happy travels in Uzbekistan! We’ll remember this trip for a long time!
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