Places in this article: Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · Tashkent
Uzbekistan in August: weather, Melon Festival, grapes and mountains
On 1 August the sun sets over Tashkent at 19:42. By 31 August it sets at 19:00, and the day is more than an hour shorter. August is the month the summer starts to let go: afternoons are still hot, but the nights get cooler, Khiva throws a festival for its melons, and the grape season is in full swing.
We live in Tashkent and work right through the summer. August rewards travellers who plan around the heat, and its last days run straight into Independence Day on 1 September and the start of the high season. Here is how we plan the month.
Weather in Uzbekistan in August
Average daytime highs and night lows from the long-term climate normals (1991–2020), the same figures we use across this site. Khiva's numbers come from the weather station in Urgench, 35 km away.
| City | Day | Night | Rain in the month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tashkent | 35 °C | 18 °C | 2 mm |
| Samarkand | 33 °C | 18 °C | 2 mm |
| Bukhara | 36 °C | 19 °C | under 1 mm |
| Khiva | 34 °C | 18 °C | 2 mm |
August is a degree or two cooler than July, and the nights drop to 18–19 °C, about two degrees below July. Samarkand is the mildest of the four at 33 °C in the afternoon, Bukhara the hottest at 36 °C.
In Tashkent and Bukhara August is the driest month of the year: 2 mm of rain in Tashkent, a fraction of a millimetre in Bukhara. In September afternoons fall to 28–30 °C, so the end of August is the end of the real heat.
Daylight in August
Uzbekistan runs on one time zone, UTC+5, with no daylight saving, so in Khiva the sun rises and sets about 35 minutes later than in Tashkent.
- Tashkent, 1 August: sunrise 05:16, sunset 19:42, 14 hours 26 minutes of daylight.
- Tashkent, 31 August: sunrise 05:47, sunset 19:00, 13 hours 14 minutes.
- Khiva, 31 August: sunrise 06:22, sunset 19:36.
The fast train from Tashkent leaves at 07:00 every day except Sunday and reaches Khiva at about 14:30, so in August you arrive with five to six hours of light still ahead of you, and the best of them come after the heat breaks. Details are in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan.
Evenings in the old towns
In August we plan the day the same way as in July: open squares and city walls from about seven to eleven, covered bazaars and museums until lunch, a siesta, a workshop or the train from one to five, and the old town again in the evening. The hour-by-hour plan is in Uzbekistan in July.
The evening is the best part. The Did you know? The Registan's sun-carrying lion went on a banknote The Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636) is named for the big cats with the sun on their backs on its portal. The image appeared on the reverse of Uzbekistan's 200-som note of 1997. Read more → in Samarkand is at its finest at dusk, Did you know? Bukhara's ponds were once its water supply Pools like Lyabi-Hauz, dug around 1620 and 46 × 36 m, were the city's main source of water. Most were filled in during the 1920s–30s because they spread disease; Lyabi-Hauz survived. Read more → in Bukhara fills up after sunset, and in Khiva the 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 → complex comes to life after dark, when the heat drops and the lights over the water come on. Drink more water than you think you need, and read our health and safety guide before you go.
The Melon Festival in Khiva
In August the Khorezm region brings its melons to Khiva: decorated pavilions, Khorezm breads, crafts, folklore groups and evening concerts at 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 → and Arda Khiva. The festival ran on 8–10 August 2025 and on 7–9 August 2026, when it drew 186,000 visitors and 259 people set a Guinness World Record for the largest melon tasting, with more than ten varieties.
The 2027 dates are not out yet; early August is the usual time, and we add them to our festival calendar for 2027 as soon as they are announced. Train tickets go on sale 60 days ahead, so for an early-August festival the sale opens in early June. Our Khiva in 3 days trip gets you there by night train, and our article on Arda Khiva describes the complex where the evening concerts are held.
Melons, grapes and peaches
August is the height of the melon season: the mass harvest begins at the end of June and early July, and the bazaars stay piled high through the month. Grapes come in quantity from the second half of July, and from August to November the grape season is at its peak. Peaches carry on through the summer, with the season running into September.
In Tashkent we buy fruit at ,Tashkent's old bazaar under a big blue-green dome, not far from Hazrati Imam. Bring cash in so'm. Read more → in Samarkand at .Samarkand's main bazaar, right next to Bibi-Khanym: Samarkand bread, dried fruit, nuts and halva. Read more → Stalls want cash (see cards, cash and tipping), and fruit should be washed before you eat it. If food is the reason for your trip, the Taste of the Road culinary tour goes through Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Tashkent.
The mountains in August
August is the driest month in the mountains above Tashkent, so a hike rarely gets rained out. At ,Mountains of the Western Tian Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → an hour and a half from the city, the average August afternoon is 26 °C and the night 16 °C, about nine degrees cooler than Tashkent. Amirsoy runs its gondolas in summer too, with guided walks, a rope park and a heated outdoor pool, and the shore villages of Lake Charvak are where Tashkent spends its summer weekends.
How we lay out the day is in Chimgan and Charvak in a day, and the walks are in hiking in Uzbekistan. Further south, the four-day Zaamin tour takes you to juniper forest and meadows above 2,000 m.
Nukus and the desert in August
The far west stays hot: Nukus averages 35 °C in the afternoon and 19 °C at night. We plan it like July: Mizdakhan in the early morning, the hot hours in the Savitsky Museum (closed on Mondays), the desert fortresses at sunset. Our 2-day Aral Sea extension spends the night in a camp by the water. In the The Kyzylkum, or Red Sands: the desert between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that the road and the railway cross on the way to Khiva. the heat lasts until mid-September, so for a longer stay in the desert we suggest the autumn.
Holidays and events in August
There are no public holidays in August. The big day comes right after it: 1 September is Independence Day, the country's main public holiday. What that day and the rest of the month look like is in Uzbekistan in September; in 2027 the Bukhara Biennial opens two days later, on 3 September.
Sharq Taronalari, the international music festival in Samarkand, is held every two years at the end of August. The 13th edition ran on 26–30 August 2024; the date of the next one has not been announced yet, and we add it to our festival calendar as soon as it is.
Booking an August trip
Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure: for mid-August, the sale opens in mid-June. If your trip runs into the first days of September, book early: September is high season, and morning trains and hotels near the old towns go first.
- The 8-day classic tour, or the 11-day classic tour with more time in each city: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.
- The 8-day group tour of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, which starts every Friday in 2026 and 2027.
- The Fergana Valley crafts tour: silk in Margilan and ceramics in Rishtan, with the workshops for the hot hours of the day.
For the peak of the heat, read Uzbekistan in July; for the start of the high season, Uzbekistan in September.
What to wear in August
- Loose, light clothes in cotton or linen that cover shoulders and knees: they keep the sun off and are right for mosques.
- In town, knee-length shorts and summer dresses are fine. For mosques and mausoleums carry a light scarf: women cover their hair before entering a mosque. The details are in what to wear and etiquette.
- A sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, especially for the open squares of Bukhara and Khiva.
- A refillable water bottle: in the afternoon heat you drink more than you expect.
- A light sweater for the mountains, where August nights drop to about 16 °C.
In short
- August is hot and dry: 33–36 °C in the afternoon, 18–19 °C at night, almost no rain.
- The days shorten by more than an hour, from 14 hours 26 minutes in Tashkent on 1 August to 13 hours 14 minutes on 31 August.
- Walk early and late; the evenings in the old towns are the best part of the day, and Chimgan is about nine degrees cooler than the city.
- Melons and grapes are at their peak; Khiva holds its Melon Festival in early August.
- No public holidays in August; Independence Day is on 1 September. All months side by side are in when to visit Uzbekistan.
