Arda Khiva: the new evening quarter of Khiva, for travellers and MICE groups
Places in this article: Khiva
Not long ago this was 25 hectares of salt-crusted ground on the edge of Khiva, too poor to farm. Today it holds 17 hotels and guest houses, an amphitheatre for 3,000 people with water between the stage and the seats, a bazaar under domes and a two-kilometre canal with gondolas. A new tourist complex on the shore of Lake Govuk, a short drive from Ichan-Kala, opened in May 2025: 17 hotels and guest houses, a 3,000-seat amphitheatre, restaurants, a bazaar under domes and a canal with gondolas. Read more → opened in May 2025, and it has changed how we plan Khiva, both for a couple on a long weekend and for a company bringing a hundred people.
What Arda Khiva is
Arda Khiva stands on the shore of Lake Govuk, a short drive from the walls of Did you know? People still live inside Khiva's museum city Itchan Kala packs more than 50 historic monuments and about 250 old houses inside clay walls 8–10 m high and 5–6 m thick, and families still live and work in its lanes. Read more →. It is a new quarter built in the style of old Khiva: carved wooden gates, domes, brick arches and even a copy of the Did you know? A 14-metre-wide base for a tower that stopped at 29 m Kalta Minor was begun in 1852 and meant to reach 70–80 m, but work halted in 1855 at about 29 m when its khan died. It is said to be the only minaret covered entirely in glazed tiles. Read more →, the wide turquoise minaret that became the symbol of the old town. The original is in Ichan-Kala, so you can compare the two on the same day.
- Stay: 17 hotels and guest houses with room for about a thousand guests.
- Stage: an amphitheatre for 3,000 people. Water separates the stands from the stage, arches rise behind the seats, and a model of Ichan-Kala serves as the backdrop.
- Food: nine restaurants with Uzbek and European cuisine, plus a food court.
- Crafts: 11 craft houses for carved ganch plaster, wood carving, pottery and gold embroidery, a jewellery centre and an oriental bazaar under domes.
- Leisure: open-air and indoor water parks, a musical fountain, five cinema and concert halls, a museum of ancient Urgench and a promenade by the water.
Why it works for MICE groups
The hard part of a large incentive trip to Khiva has always been beds. The old town is a museum city with small hotels, and a big group often has to be split between several addresses. Arda Khiva gives you about a thousand places in one compound, so the whole group sleeps, eats and gathers on foot, without a coach between dinner and bed.
- Gala evening: the amphitheatre was built for concerts and festivals and seats 3,000. For a smaller group, a private dinner in one of the restaurants works better.
- Daytime programme: Ichan-Kala, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1990, is a short transfer away. The morning in the old town with a guide, the afternoon free, the evening back at Arda Khiva.
- Team activities: the craft houses, the bazaar and gondola rides on the canal give the group something to do together that is not another monument.
- Conference: in August 2026 Khiva got a new Congress Hall, built for international forums, business conferences and cultural events. Next to it stands a four-storey three-star hotel with 156 rooms for 310 guests and an indoor pool; the Boqiy Shahar historical and ethnographic park is a few minutes' walk from the hotel. The city also opened the Khiva Ichan-Kala reception house for official events and delegations.
How we build programmes for companies, from formats to transport, is on our MICE page. Send us the dates and the number of people, and we will check what is available.
Things to do in Khiva in the evening: Arda Khiva for independent travellers
If you have one or two nights in Khiva, this is how we suggest you use them. Spend the day inside the walls, watch the sunset over the old town, then take a taxi to Arda Khiva. It fills up after dark, when the heat drops and the lights over the water come on.
- Walk the promenade along the lake and the canal, and take a gondola if you like (paid separately).
- Look through the bazaar under the domes for ceramics, embroidery and jewellery.
- Have dinner: Uzbek dishes, or something European if you need a break from Rice cooked in a kazan with carrots, onions and meat: the dish of every Uzbek celebration. Each region cooks it its own way..
- Check the amphitheatre programme: a concert or festival there is worth planning an evening around.
On our Khiva in 3 days tour an evening at Arda Khiva is already part of day 2. On the 11-day classic tour a hotel at Arda Khiva is one of the options for the Khiva night in the Business category. To the 8-day classic tour, the Khiva walking tour, the photo tour or the yoga retreat in Khiva we can add an evening or a night there on request.
How to get there
Khiva is the western end of most routes. The high-speed Jaloliddin Manguberdi train leaves Tashkent at 07:00 every day except Sunday and reaches Khiva at about 14:30. The way back leaves Khiva at 07:15 or 07:20 every day except Monday. The details are in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan. Urgench airport is about 30 km from Khiva. For a group we meet the train or the flight with a coach and drive straight to the hotel.
More about the city is on our Khiva page.
In short
- Arda Khiva opened in May 2025 on 25 hectares on the shore of Lake Govuk, a short drive from Ichan-Kala.
- 17 hotels and guest houses for about a thousand guests, nine restaurants, a bazaar, craft houses and water parks in one compound you can cross on foot.
- The 3,000-seat amphitheatre, with water between the stage and the seats, is a ready venue for a gala night.
- For conferences, Khiva now also has a new Congress Hall with a 156-room hotel next to it.
- Travelling on your own: the day in Ichan-Kala, the evening at Arda Khiva.
