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Places in this article: Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · Tashkent
Where to Stay in Uzbekistan: Hotels, Hostels, Guesthouses
In Khiva you can sleep inside the city walls: several hotels stand within ,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 → a short walk from the minarets. In Samarkand, a five-star room can be a drive away from 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 → That is the first thing we tell guests about hotels in Uzbekistan: choose the address before the star rating.
We live in Tashkent and book hotels for our travellers in every city on the classic route. Here is how the choice works on the ground.
What the hotel does for you
Every foreign visitor must be registered at their place of stay within 3 days of arrival, weekends included. A hotel or guesthouse does it for you at check-in, through the national E-mehmon system. Keep the confirmations until you leave the country; the details are in our guide to registration and customs.
The tourist tax is charged per guest for every night, and its size depends on how many rooms the hotel has. You rarely pay it separately: it is part of the hotel bill. Renting a private flat? Then the host registers you and pays the tax, so ask how they will do it before you arrive.
Hotels, restaurants and shops in the cities take Visa and Mastercard; how to pay everywhere else is in our article on cards, cash and tipping.
Three kinds of stay
International chains and large hotels. Tashkent has a Hyatt Regency and a Hilton; Samarkand has a Mövenpick and a Hilton; Bukhara has a Wyndham. Expect a lobby, a restaurant, a lift and staff who speak English. The trade-off is location: these are mostly in the modern parts of town.
Boutique and heritage hotels. Small hotels of 20 to 30 rooms in the old towns, built and decorated in the local style. In Bukhara, Devon Begi has 20 rooms on two floors, about 50 metres from .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, Zarafshan Boutique stands on Did you know? Legend: a wrestler freed captives with a single cowhide Legend says Pahlavan Mahmud won a bout in India and asked to free as many fellow Khorezmians as would fit in a cowhide. He cut it into one long thin strip and encircled them all. The real Mahmud, a poet and wrestler of around 1300, is Khiva's patron saint. Read more → Street inside Itchan Kala.
B&Bs and guesthouses. Family-run houses with a handful of rooms around a courtyard and breakfast cooked by the owners. On our off-the-beaten-path tour guests stay at Dilshoda B&B in Samarkand and Porso B&B in Bukhara. Rooms are simpler, but you get the street life of the old quarter right outside the door.
Hostels with dormitories exist in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva; they register foreign guests just like hotels do.
City by city: where we book
Tashkent. The capital is a big modern city, and the sights are spread out. Stay near a Did you know? A metro designed to ride out a magnitude-9 earthquake The three original lines of the Tashkent Metro were built to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, and the tunnels lie unusually shallow, only 8–25 m below the street. Read more → station and you can reach Did you know? Tashkent’s Chorsu dome is younger than the city’s metro Trade at the old crossroads is centuries old, but the domed building opened only in 1990, thirteen years after the metro. Architects Vladimir Azimov and Sabir Adylov gave it a main dome of 86 m ringed by seven smaller ones. Read more → and Did you know? Legend: “Strength lies in justice” were Timur's own words The equestrian statue of Amir Timur in central Tashkent, unveiled in 1994, bears the motto “Strength lies in justice” in four languages. Tradition attributes the words to Timur himself, but historians cannot confirm he said them. Read more → without a taxi.
Samarkand. If you want to walk to the Registan in the evening, look at hotels around University Boulevard: the Mövenpick is about 1.2 km away. The Hilton Samarkand Regency sits in the new A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. Samarkand complex outside the centre and runs a shuttle to the Eternal City and into town. The railway station is more than 6 km from the Registan.
Bukhara. The old town is compact, and everything worth seeing is within walking distance of Lyabi-Hauz. Stay here rather than near the station, which is about 12 km from the old city.
Khiva. Inside the walls you step out of the door straight into the museum city. Just outside, by the south gate (Tash-Darvaza), the Asia Khiva has around 130 rooms and a quieter evening.
Hotels on our tours
On our 8-day independent tour you choose one of three levels, and the route stays the same:
| City | Tourist | Boutique | Superior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tashkent | Baden-Baden / Milan | Farovon Tashkent | Hyatt / Hilton |
| Khiva | Asia / Twins | Zarafshan / Arslan | Faravon / Komil |
| Bukhara | Asia / Garden Plaza | Devon Begi / Makon | Wyndham / Sahid |
| Samarkand | Konstantin / Grand Shahzoda | Elit | Mövenpick / Hilton |
The exact hotel is confirmed at booking, depending on availability. On the 8-day classic tour with a guide, the tourist taxes and breakfasts are already in the price.
Tips from our team
- Book early check-in for night arrivals. In winter the flights from London and Paris land in Tashkent before 6 a.m., and check-in usually starts at 14:00. Book the room from the night before, or ask us to arrange early check-in.
- Spring and autumn are the busiest months. In April, May, September and October book the small hotels of Bukhara and Khiva as soon as your dates are fixed: they have few rooms.
- Check the street, not just the photos. In the old towns not every lane is open to cars, and the driver may stop a short walk from the door. Pack a suitcase you can roll over cobbles.
- Travelling with children? Ask for a family room or connecting rooms when you book; see our tips for Uzbekistan with kids.
Hotels booked by us
On our routes we choose the hotels for you, and every one registers you on arrival. The 8-day independent tour books hotels, breakfasts and transfers in the hotel category you choose, and on the tailor-made tours page you can tell us your dates and the kind of place you like.
In short
- Choose by location: old town in Bukhara and Khiva, walking distance to the Registan in Samarkand, near the metro in Tashkent.
- Hotels and guesthouses register you within 3 days and include the tourist tax in the bill.
- Chains give you comfort, boutique hotels and B&Bs give you the old quarter outside the door.
- Arriving at dawn? Book the night before or early check-in.
- Book spring and autumn stays in Bukhara and Khiva well ahead.
