Places in this article: Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · Tashkent
Uzbekistan in June: weather, heat, mountains and fruit season
On 21 June the sun sets over Khiva at 20:37, and Tashkent gets 15 hours 13 minutes of daylight, the most of the year. June is when Uzbekistan turns from spring to summer: apricots pile up at the bazaars, the mountains are at their greenest, and a Bukhara afternoon reaches 36 °C.
We live in Tashkent and work right through the summer. June is a good month if you plan it well: the old towns in the morning and evening, the middle of the day under a roof, and a day or two in the mountains. Here is how we do it.
Weather in Uzbekistan in June
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 | 34 °C | 18 °C | 17 mm |
| Samarkand | 32 °C | 18 °C | 7 mm |
| Bukhara | 36 °C | 20 °C | 2 mm |
| Khiva | 34 °C | 19 °C | 5 mm |
June is about five degrees hotter than May. Samarkand is the mildest of the four at 32 °C in the afternoon, Bukhara the hottest at 36 °C. July adds another degree or two, so June is the last month of the city season before the full summer heat.
It barely rains: 17 mm in Tashkent over the whole month, a few millimetres elsewhere. Nights stay warm, 18–20 °C, so an evening walk needs nothing more than a light shirt.
Daylight: the longest days of the year
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 June: sunrise 04:51, sunset 19:51, 15 hours of daylight.
- Tashkent, 21 June: sunrise 04:48, sunset 20:01, 15 hours 13 minutes, the longest day of the year.
- Khiva, 21 June: sunrise 05:24, sunset 20:37.
The fast train from Tashkent leaves at 07:00 every day except Sunday and reaches Khiva at about 14:30. In June that leaves six hours of light before sunset, and the best of them are the last ones, when the heat eases. Details are in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan.
How we plan around the heat
Our rule is simple: mornings and evenings outside, the middle of the day under a roof. We start city walks at about eight, while the air is still fresh, and finish the open squares by noon.
From about one to four we plan things that suit the heat: lunch and a rest at the hotel, a museum, a craft workshop, or the fast train to the next city. The old towns come back to life after five: in Bukhara around 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 Khiva on the walls and the rooftop terraces, in Samarkand on 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 → at dusk.
Drink more water than you think you need, and keep a hat on in the open squares. Our health and safety guide has the rest.
The mountains and Lake Charvak
When the city passes 33 °C, Tashkent heads for the mountains. 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 away, the average June afternoon is 23 °C and the night 14 °C, about ten degrees cooler than the city. June is also much drier up there than May, about 45 mm of rain against some 120 mm, so the trails dry out and the hiking season gets going.
Amirsoy runs its gondolas in summer too, with guided mountain walks, a rope park, quad bikes and a heated outdoor pool. Lake Charvak, about 80 km from the city centre, is a reservoir, and its shore villages are where Tashkent spends the summer, with tapchans by the water and paragliders taking off at Yusufkhona. On the road there, fish restaurants serve trout from their own ponds.
How we lay out the day is in Chimgan and Charvak in a day, and the walks are in hiking in Uzbekistan. For four days off the asphalt there is the Jeep Expedition: High Tashkent.
Fruit season: cherries and apricots
June is the sweetest month at the bazaar. Cherries come first: the earliest are picked in the second half of April, and the late varieties are still on the stalls in the first half of June. Then the apricots take over, and the peak of the apricot harvest and sales falls in the first half of June.
The exact weeks shift every year with the spring weather: a hot spring brings the harvest forward, and a March frost can thin the apricot crop. 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, and our guide to plov in Uzbekistan explains the national dish.
Holidays and events in June
There are no public holidays in June 2027: Kurban Hayit falls in May this year, around 16–17 May. So June trains and hotels follow the season, not the holiday calendar.
The event to watch is the Silk and Spices Festival in Bukhara: a procession from The fortress-residence of the rulers of Bukhara on a high artificial hill: the oldest structure in the city. Read more → to Lyabi-Hauz, spice stalls, silk and cotton fabrics, master classes and a Rice cooked in a kazan with carrots, onions and meat: the dish of every Uzbek celebration. Each region cooks it its own way. contest. The last edition ran on 6–8 June 2025; earlier ones were held in late May. The 2027 dates go into our festival calendar for 2027 as soon as they are announced.
Crowds and booking
June closes the city season, which runs from March to June and again from September to November. Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure: for a trip in mid-June, that means mid-April. For the morning Uzbekistan's high-speed train: Tashkent to Samarkand in 2 hours 30 minutes, Tashkent to Bukhara in about 4 hours. Tickets are tied to your passport. Read more → trains we buy on the first days.
- 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 softer weeks of late spring, read Uzbekistan in May.
What to pack for June
- Light, breathable clothes that cover shoulders and knees: cool in the afternoon heat and right for mosques.
- 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 June nights drop to about 14 °C.
- A scarf for religious sites (see what to wear and etiquette), and some cash next to your card for bazaars (see cards, cash and tipping).
In short
- June is hot and dry: 32–36 °C in the afternoon, 18–20 °C at night, almost no rain.
- The days are the longest of the year: 15 hours 13 minutes in Tashkent on 21 June, sunset in Khiva at 20:37.
- See the sights in the morning and evening and spend midday indoors; Chimgan is about ten degrees cooler than the city.
- Cherries, then apricots: the apricot harvest peaks in the first half of June.
- No public holidays in June 2027; watch for the Silk and Spices Festival dates. Other months are compared in when to visit Uzbekistan.
