Your tips for French-speaking local guides in Uzbekistan?

Hi there, We’re a group of 4 people who prefer to travel independently but also want to use local guides at different stages of our trip. My question is: should we plan to hire a different guide for each stage, or just one guide for all the different legs? We’re planning to travel between stages either by taxi or public transport (train, plane…). Our itinerary is pretty classic (3 weeks): Visit Tashkent Tashkent – Ferghana Valley (by train) Explore the valley and return to Tashkent with a guide and taxi Tashkent – Nukus (flight) Nukus – Khiva by taxi + guide for Khiva visit Khiva – Bukhara by taxi + guide for Bukhara visit Bukhara – Lake Aydar Kul – Samarkand by taxi + guide for Samarkand Samarkand – Tashkent (by train). Is the cost reasonable for the transfers between stages? Also, I’m open to any suggestions or tips (recommended guides, etc.). Thanks! Bernard

Hi, A guide? If you handle travel between cities yourself, what’s the point of having a guide to visit them? With a paper guide like Lonely Planet or similar, there’s plenty of info to get by on your own.

Hi,

For me, guides are a plus, and it's nice to talk about their personal lives and see how they live, for example.

We visited the four main cities. I contacted agencies for these four cities. I got a response with prices at 100 € per day. I found tours on a site like Get....guide and other global sites. Prices were around 80 €. In Tashkent, they offered 3-hour tours for a max of 30 €.

We used Aslan Travel’s services—two very friendly guides, but the one in Bukhara wasn’t up to par. The guide in Khiva was great, but the tour only lasted 3 hours max, not a full day, unless you go outside the city.

For Samarkand, I found a contact via Welink. The guide I’d seen recommendations for here and elsewhere wasn’t available, and he suggested a colleague—very kind, really, but not up to scratch in terms of oral comprehension, and the experience was disappointing even though he put his heart into it.

We traveled to Uzbekistan at the end of October, during high season, so I didn’t get quotes back from some guides whose contacts I found here or elsewhere. I have the WhatsApp number of our Khiva guide, whom I recommend.

If you really don’t feel comfortable visiting a city without a local "guide," it’s best to hire one.

Hi,

It's not just about whether you can or can't, but also that if you don't speak Russian (or Uzbek, which must be even less common), interactions with locals are limited to smiles. While cultural information didn’t give us much more than a paper guide, talking about their lives and their country was really enriching and varied.

I used Turkestan Travel, who provided us with a different guide in each city. But I guess since Uzbekistan is a very tourist-friendly country, there’s a plethora of options.

Catherine

We feel capable, but sometimes we prefer having a guide—no need to be condescending.

Sorry if you found my comment condescending—I really didn’t mean it that way. The adjective I chose, I admit, definitely wasn’t the right one... Still, given your feedback—three guides, two of them not "up to par"—it’s worth thinking about how useful they actually are.

Thanks for your replies—I’ve taken note of them. For local guides, I’ve sometimes traveled without one, but over time, I’ve realized that even with guidebooks, I might miss out on remarkable things. It’s true that choosing a guide can feel like Russian roulette (oops!!).

But I’ll refine my request: actually, I’d like to make the connections between each city (Nukus-Shiva, Shiva-Bukhara, etc.) with a taxi that could also double as a guide if it’s possible and reasonable.

Thanks for your input! Bernard

Hello, I’m Abbos, a French-speaking guide in Uzbekistan. If you’d like, I can help with guides for Uzbek cities. My contact details: aboss85@mail.ru Phone and WhatsApp: +998979110595 I’d be happy to see you in Uzbekistan! Have a great day

We just got back from Uzbekistan where we traveled with Samarkand Destinations. Feruz speaks perfect French, and he put together a flawless custom trip for us. An excellent French-speaking guide—funny, attentive, and always available. Hotels, transfers, and restaurants were all perfectly handled. An exceptional trip. https://samarkanddestination.com/circuits/