Short on time but want your family to see the best of the Old Silk Road? Read on to find out our one week Uzbekistan itinerary
In 2023 we had one week to visit Uzbekistan during my daughter’s autumn school break. We chose to minimise the travelling, because both our children are very young. We only visited Samarkand and Bukhara, both Old Silk Road cities. And luckily for us there was a direct flight twice a week from Almaty, Kazakhstan, to Samarkand.
We had guides for both the cities and they managed transport on the days they were taking us on tours. We really wanted to use the train system between the cities as we’d heard it was very good. However, it proved impossible for us to get train tickets to bring us back to Samarkand for our flight home. Therefore we only took the train on the outward journey from Samarkand to Bukhara, and booked a private taxi for the return journey.
Day 1
We flew in on a Saturday evening Air Astana flight from Almaty, Kazakhstan. At the airport we picked up two local sim cards and got some local currency out from an ATM. Our guide picked us up from the airport and took us to our accommodation, Turon Lux Hotel. He also helped us find a restaurant nearby for dinner. The restaurant, Efendi Food, was a great little place and were happy to serve us beer. Which one of the servers then had to run across the street to buy from a local shop. He seemed quite happy to do so. It was cute and charming.
Day 2
- Guri Amir, mausoleum (tomb)
- Registan Square
- Konigil paper making village
We started strong with many of Samarkand’s big sights. Our guide drove us to the mausoleum (or tomb) of Amir Timur, Registan Square, and Konigil, a gorgeous paper-making village. The mausoleum was cool, and given it belongs to one of Uzbekistan’s great historical leaders, was very popular. Get there early!
Registan Square is a must-see, it is immense and very beautiful. Despite its size, it was busy – if you like uninterrupted views of pretty monuments you should come early. I’d suggest perhaps at first light! We visited the madrasah on the left as you look at the square. The madrasah courtyard was gorgeous and a lot of the former student’s rooms are now little shops and boutiques. We climbed a (very!) tiny little staircase and were rewarded with a stunning view of the courtyard from one of the balconies on the floor above.
Konigil paper-making village was a satisfying end to the day. An opportunity to step away from grand architecture and see another, smaller, piece of local culture. It was peaceful and calm compared to the other places we had visited, and had a pretty canal. We could help with the paper making, watch oil being made, and visit farm animals behind the paper-making buildings. The kids loved it.
Day 3
Today was another big sights day with Bibi Khanym Mosque, Hazrat Khizr Mosque, Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis and Afrasiab Museum. Bibi Khanym Mosque complex is big and grand, though smaller in size to the immense Registan Square. It has a feeling of ruin about it, which is charming in its own way. A short walk away was Hazrat Khizr Mosque, a more modern looking building, with a lovely terrace looking out across to Bibi Khanym Mosque.
Next we wandered across to Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis. Shah-i-Zinda is an incredible collection of beautifully decorated tombs all positioned along a narrow lane. You can walk into each of the tombs and admire the gorgeous mosaic work. It was rather busy here and we lost one of the kids for a few moments in the crowd. She was fine and didn’t even realise she was lost, but do take care with your children!
By now the children were tired so they went back to rest at the hotel with their dad. My mum and I went on to the museum.
The Afrasiab Museum is a modest little museum positioned next to the Afrasiab historical site. There is a small fee to enter the museum, and I recommend visiting the museum before the historical site. The site behind the fence is the remains of the city of Afrasiab, razed to the ground by the Mongols. The site is barren, the wind whistles in your ears, and the emptiness is palpable.
Day 4
A tourist day without so much sightseeing! We took a Yandex taxi to Siam Bazaar and spent the morning there, while my mum rested back at the hotel. Siam Bazaar is a wonderful outdoor marketplace, and we had lunch on the terrace of one of the restaurants in the centre of it. It’s a well organised and relatively clean market with plenty of space. You can get lots of tourist stuff and pretty pottery, as well as the usual fresh fruit and veggies, and meats.
That evening we visited a man-made lake east of the city with a development next to it called Silk Road Samarkand. It’s an interesting concept: a very well maintained version of an ancient Silk Road City with lots of tourist shops and modern restaurants, set up around a canal system on the edge of the lake. We took a boat ride across the lake to one of the hotels on the other side where we found a relaxed restaurant serving pub food. We were planning on watching the musical fountain show at the city end of the lake, which was showing at 8pm. However, in the end we missed it, and we were ok with that!
Day 5
We travelled to Bukhara via the train in the morning. There are a couple of train options in the region and we had tickets for (I believe!) the Sharq train, which is the slightly slower service. If you can get the tickets, the Afrosiyob train is the fastest of the trains. After checking into our charming and well-located accommodation, Hotel Volida, we wandered off for lunch at Labi Hovuz, a restaurant next to a man-made pond in the pedestrianised old town centre. The outdoor seating has fabulous ambience and there is plenty of space.
Day 6
Along with our guide we walked through the pedestrianised old town to the Ark of Bukhara. The Ark is an amazing ancient fortress and the plump curved walls are incredible to look at from the outside. Half of the internal section is rubble and dirt, following the Russian invasion of 1920, but there is a lot of original area still intact. While walking around in the Ark was great and I do recommend it, please be aware you have to pay for the (not so great!) squat toilets inside.
We took a Tuk-Tuk across to Kalan Tower, a minaret said to have been allowed to remain standing by Genghis Khan even while the rest of the city was destroyed by the Mongol army back in 1220. It is very impressive, so I sort of understand Genghis’ thinking there. You can climb this tower, which we didn’t do. It’s 45m high, you can probably understand why we didn’t do this with little kids! While we were there we popped into the courtyard of the Madrasah of Emir Alimkhan.
Our final sight for the day was Ismail Samani’s Mausoleum, a relatively understated brick structure, at least compared to many other mausoleums of leaders in the region! We were thankful for the mausoleum being in the centre of a park as it gave the children space to run.
That evening we attended a local cultural and fashion show in one of the local courtyards near our hotel, finishing our day with dinner at the fantastic Joy Lounge Bukhara.
Day 7
On our way to the Summer Palace, we stopped to admire the outside of Bolo Haus Mosque (across from the Ark), which is very large and impressive. For this sight there’s not a lot else to do here, so, given we had young children with us, we probably didn’t need to visit it specifically.
Next we went on to the palace, which was only finished a couple of years before Bukhara was invaded, forcing the Emir to flee to Afghanistan. So I don’t think it got much use! However, it’s still pretty cool, has lovely gardens (with fabulous peacocks), and plenty of the porcelain collection and royal clothes are on display. There is a little cafe by the harem out back where you can take your tea. There’s a pretty pond there and a cute shop.
We had one final stop at Chor Minor, a pretty building with iconic blue minarets, which served as the gatehouse of a long gone Madrasah.
That evening Mum and I visited a local family who showed us how to make traditional Uzbek Plov. It was fun, and I cut up more carrots than I’ve ever done before or since 🙂
Day 8
Our flights were that evening so we took a private taxi from our Bukhara hotel direct to Samarkand International Airport. Our final hour before leaving Bukhara was spent at the relaxed Coffee House, a cafe with a little terrace, just a few minutes walk from our hotel. The drive back to Samarkand was about 4 hours, compared to the 2.5 hours if we’d been on the train.
One week in Uzbekistan with little kids
We loved our week in Uzbekistan! We did, however, learn a lot about how we should travel as a family with children of such young ages. The guides we hired were super chill with the children which was fantastic. And given the culture in Central Asia, this is pretty normal and expected! However, we each took turns running after the children as they climbed walls and ran around corners or into crowds. So each of us missed parts of the story of the different sights. If you travel to places like Samarkand or Bukhara, you probably want to hear about their history, and so it is a shame when you get an incomplete story.
My conclusion is that if your kids are very young (in prams/baby carriers) or are older (and can manage themselves a little more) you will find Uzbekistan a great place to travel to. And the itinerary we followed shouldn’t be a problem for you. For those of you with kids between 2 and 6 years old, you may well be better off to really thin out your itinerary further than we did. And it shouldn’t be too difficult to do this if you have one week in Uzbekistan.
What do I know about Uzbekistan?
I’ve been living in Central Asia since mid 2021 with my family. Visit my About Me page to understand more about my perspective.
Check out my other posts on Uzbekistan
- Stay tuned for hotel and restaurant reviews!