10 Uzbekistan travel tips + Are cruises bad? + Where can you see the 5 big cats
Published about 14 hours ago • 13 min read
Hi Reader,
I am in London this week attending World Travel Market, probably the largest global meet up of industry professionals, and loving my first time attending.
I also player tourist during the weekend, with 3 tours in collaboration with Women in travel CIC that were fabulous and fun (belly dancing was involved), and then a full day sightseeing and visiting all the top-10 places for a first timer with my SO who had never been to London, and maybe even a quintessential English afternoon tea at The Langham.
The conference is just beginning when this goes out, but it is always energising to be surrounded by people who do what you do and talk about the things you think about all day and that keep you up at night.
Thousands of travel professionals getting together surely brings the magic on ✨
On this week's email:
You wanted me to tell you all about Uzbekistan so this week is for you! I am sharing 10 things you need to know before visiting to hopefully help you plan. We are also going to announce our own tour soon so join the waitlist if you'd like to go on an organized tour with all taken care of by us.
Someone in the group recently asked how she could see tigers and lions in Tanzania. These two animals do not live in the same continent so they wouldn't be seen together unless they are in a zoo. Besides lions and tigers, I am also fascinated with leopard and jaguar, but where would you have to go to see each? A map will show you.
We have decided to delay the launch of our French Polynesia tour to 2028. This is because of availability issues with the hotels we wanted to stay at which were already booked for 2027. We are working to announce the trip as soon as possible anyway, but it will be for the 1st week of June 2028 instead of 2027. More time to save up for this once in a lifetime trip!
On this week's podcast episode I talk to Jase from Friends of the Earth, about the impact cruise ships and the cruise industry have on the environment. A difficult conversation given how powerful and popular cruise ship travel is, but one that I believe needs to be had. As you know, we don't shy away from the hard topics at the Solo Female Travelers Podcast, and this is an example of that.
Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia most famous for its Silk Road architecture with blue domes, majolica tiles and impressive arches and doors taking center stage.
Google the country and a flood of stunning monuments with the most intricate facades and ceilings will come up.
The main cities of Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand are the jewel of the Silk Road and have more preserved or reconstructed monuments than any other stretch of this transcontinental trade route. My tips will focus on these 3 cities plus the capital city of Tashkent, which is a point on its own.
If you are looking to visit, here are 10 things to know.
1.The best way to get around is by high speed train
High speed train
The country has the most convenient and accessible train network in Central Asia, with high speed trains connecting the main cities and cutting down driving travel to less than 2 hours between Bukhara-Samarkand and Samarkand-Tashkent and 3 hours between Khiva and Bukhara in the newly opened route.
Trains are comfortable, clean, new, well maintained and have everything you need. Seats are spacious, they have charging points, large windows and tables. They also have proper plane-style toilets and you can get food and drinks from the food carts and staff walking up and down the carriages throughout the trip.
With a VIP ticket, you also get food and even more comfortable seats, though I don't think they are worth the price difference since Economy class is pretty good already.
The only down side? Tickets sell out FAST so you may need a local agency to get them for you.
2. Early morning is the best time for photos
Bukhara at 8am
If you explore the cities at 8am you will most likely be the only one alongside avid photographers. Locals wake up later and the daily routine only starts after 9am. Tourist groups only descend on the city after 9am too so before then, the main sights are empty.
In Samarkand, you can pay an extra photography fee and enter Registan Square at 7am when it is reserved for an hour for photographers. It will then be empty. The necropolis of Shah-i-Zinda, also in Samarkand, which is made of very narrow passageways and small spaces, opens before 7am so you can also try to be there a that time for the privilege of having it all to yourself like I did.
In Bukhara and Khiva, 8am is fine to be alone.
3. Get a hotel within walking distance to the city center
The view from my Khiva Hotel
In Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, it is likely that you will concentrate your time within the area of the old cities and I recommend you book a hotel within maximum 10min walk to the city center so you don't need taxis and can go back to the hotel in the heat of the day to rest and come back out at night when the cities are completely different.
In Khiva and Bukara there are several 3* locally owned hotels that are fine and affordable, many have even been recently renovated or open.
In Samarkand, which is a much larger and widespread city, I would not recommend staying in the new city because that is a 30min car ride to the center. Finding a hotel within walking distance of Registan in Samarkand is more difficult but not impossible, and even more important than in the other 2 cities.
Tashkent is a large city so it is likely you will need taxis to move around. Download Yandex Go which is the local taxi hailing app so you avoid language barriers.
4. Don't skip Tashkent
Old Tashkent
Compared to the ancient cities of Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand, Tashkent has a hard time competing and many visitors and tour companies use it exclusively as the base for arrival / departure into the country without much time spent. However, I think you should not miss it.
Tashkent has undergone massive renovations and expansions recently and an entire new Old Tashkent district has been rebuilt around the newly opened Islamic Center and what is the original ancient heart of the city.
This district, walking distance to Chorsu Market, which also deserves a visit, is absolutely worth it. There are many shops selling beautiful pottery and apparel and the Zan Makon shop, cultural center and Women's Museum, a worthy stop for those interested in learning more about the role of women before WWII, during and after, up until today.
The Soviet Union promoted rights and work for men and women and encouraged conservative Muslim women to throw away their face and head covers and get a job.
Then came WWII when many men were sent to the war front and never returned. Women had to maintain families and jobs were essential. With independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, the rights of women and the role of Islam have continued to evolve.
The Islamic Civilization Center is a sprawling Islamic museum that traces back the history of the Silk Road and of Uzbekistan.
Visits can only be done with a guide and tickets are expensive. Inside, you can find interactive exhibits, reenactments, and many innovative spaces including a look into the future of the country and is aspirations. If you have half a day to spare, it is worth it, but I would not spend the 3h that a guided visit takes if you only have 1 day in the city.
Chorsu Market
Walking distance from the museum is Chorsu market, now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site as part of the city's modernist architecture buildings. Besides its design, the market is a great opportunity to see daily life, from bread and samsa bakers in traditional tandoors to the dried fruits and nuts uzbeks love and the range of teas drunk at all times of day and night.
Other points of interest in the city are the metro stations, many of which are beautifully designed, going to the top of Soviet brutalist Uzbekistan Hotel for panoramic views of the city, and stopping at the Human House, a project to bring back Uzbek fabrics and designs by a fabulous woman.
For the most incredible restaurant operation you have ever seen, stop for plov at Besh Qozon. Come at 11am to see them finish a 1-tone plov cauldron. Their flagship restaurant in the city (they have many locations) serves over 25,000 portions of plov a day and you can see them preparing the 5 variations they offer. Total insanity.
5. Get behind the small doors
The treasure trove is always behind small doors
Many of the old buildings in Khiva and Bukhara are preserved monuments part of the UNESCO World Heritage protected list. While both are living cities with residents having their homes inside the monumental complexes, the world heritage status limits what they can do to their homes. Many owners have resorted to establishing tourism businesses inside to pay for the maintenance.
Shops and restaurants are commonly found behind small doors leaving into madrassahs or other historic constructions. It pays to wander slowly, after you have gone on a guided architecture and historic tour, and get lost behind these small doors, you never know what you may find.
I found an amazing suzani (traditional embroidery) teacher and artist in a store that had the smallest door and an amazing fashion designer in a massive store that was hidden in the tiniest of entrances.
Get into places, chance on serendipitous encounters and get lost. These cities are small, you can never truly get lost, but you can discover lots of amazing places by simply wandering slowly, paying attention and taking your eyes off the phone and your interest away from the main attractions.
6. Look up
Terrace with a view
All 3 cities, but especially Khiva and Bukhara, have narrow pedestrian streets with large stunning buildings all stacked up and sandwiched between more incredible ones. This means that perspective and scale are hard to come by.
I loved looking up, finding rooftop spaces and just walking up to see the view. Even if I didn't stay, I sometimes made a booking for dinner or came back for tea.
In one of those rooftop spaces, we will organize a private exclusive dinner for our group, in others that house restaurants we will enjoy dinner or lunch.
If you plan to enjoy dinner at any of the popular rooftop restaurants, I recommend you book ahead as getting reservations on the day in Khiva or even Bukhara was tough.
7. Come in the right season
Uzbekistan in October
I always try to visit places at the best time to go and in the case of Uzbekistan, the right season is very short.
Winter is cold and rainy, summer is scorchingly hot. The sweet spot is May and June and September and October. At the end of October, the season ends and the cold and rain begin, and before May it is also rainy.
Given this is a place to enjoy outdoors with many open air spaces and terraces and little shade in Khiva and Bukhara, it pays to go at the right time.
A note on the seasons: Given the peak season is short and Uzbekistan is enjoying massive popularity, I recommend booking early. More and more 3-5* hotels are being opened every month, but the best ones book out early, especially with tour groups.
8. Get a guide
Guide from the Women's Museum
Honestly, a good, knowledgeable, organized guide is useful and invaluable everywhere but here it is even more so.
There is so much history, so many traditions and so many things to learn about that are under the surface that if you don't have a guide, you run the risk of treating the country as if it was a static museum, backdrop to your travel photos, where you are mere observer.
You can join a group tour to get it all done and make sure you are visiting the best places at the best time, with a group and all logistics sorted, or book day trips or a guided visit to some of the cities or sights so that a guide accompanies you around the main city center.
Either way, a good guide will dramatically add to your experience, especially because English is not widely spoken, not even at premium hotels.
If you don't get a guide, download Google translate and use it and read about the places and the sights before going so you don't just see them as pretty places without any cultural, historical or human relevance.
9. Credit cards are accepted, but beware, and cash makes you a millionaire
Credit cards are accepted widely, but I struggled with using them. Here are a few things to know:
ATMs work but they don't all accept international cards. Many high end hotels have ATMs and they are for tourists so they tend to have a higher chance of success
The limits on the amount of cash you can get is sometimes low (200 USD / EUR equivalent) so if you want more, you may need to use more than one
American Express is accepted almost nowhere except for very few 5-star hotels in Tashkent
Almost all credit card payment terminals (even at 5-star hotels) will ask you for a PIN to confirm the transaction. This was extremely frustrating because my cards don't have PINs yet it would not accept any payment with my debit or credit card without me entering one. I had to resort to using my ATM PIN even for the regular credit card. If your cards don't have PINs try the ATM PIN instead
The exchange rate is such that as soon as you withdraw 100 EUR / USD you get over 1 million Uzbek Som. Carrying so much cash with so many zeros is cumbersome but also, it is dangerous because you may miss a zero. Make sure that the credit card machine payments enter the right amount of zeros and that you don't give a 100,000 note instead of a 10,000 one.
10. Bring a scarf
Dressing more modestly at Shah-i-Zinda
Some functioning mosques will request that you cover your hair and while there are usually scarves you can use, it is always better to have your own handy, or buy one of the beautiful camel and sheep wool ones on sale.
You should also dress conservatively in places like Shah-i-Zinda which is a necropolis. Signs are usually posted at the entrance to main sights so you can keep an eye on them.
11. Bonus: Bring hand sanitizer and paper
Most toilets in tourism establishments (restaurants, bars, hotels, museums, monuments, etc.) are Western style with a sit down toilet, but places that are frequented by mostly locals, such as Chorsu Market, have toilets that are less clean and are likely to be squat toilets.
You may need small coins as payment to access them and the lady manning the entrance will give you toilet paper, but I found it to be really rough. Soap and towels to wash hands and dry are inexistent so it pays to have your own or take the small soap bottles from the hotel with you along with some hand sanitiser and tissue.
Someone at World in Maps has put together this one to illustrate where you can find all the 5 big cats.
I will say that the map is not 100% accurate and the fact that it colors entire countries rather than regions makes it look like cats are in places they are not, but it is a good general overview of where each of these can be found
PS There are no African lions in Asia, but there are Asian lions which are a different species.
Episode #31: Are Cruise ships bad for the environment?
The cruise industry is growing exponentially and becoming one of the most popular ways of traveling the world and I cannot help but wonder what this means for the environment and the communities the industry impacts.
We promised you no topic was off limits for us at the Solo Female Travelers Podcast and this week is an example of that.
I know many of you are cruise goers and love this way of travel, but I still feel it is important to be aware of the impact it has on the wildlife and the air and water quality so that we can all make more informed decisions. Ultimately, the consumer has the power to dictate what brands succeed and which ones fade and information is power in determining that.
Give this episode a listen even if you are a staunch cruise supporter.
Check out all the details of the podcast here, listen to the episode and start following us [Solo Female Travelers Podcast] on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode:
You can find us under Solo Female Travelers on all other platforms
Let me know what you think of this episode and leave a review so we can reach out to more women!
PS Every episode will end with an embarrassing travel story. Submit yours anonymously here.
ICYMI: Useful global travel news & updates
Useful travel tips and updates from around the world you should know:
The Guardian has started a series they publish every couple of months with the photographs that have changed the world. One of these series features images that have changed the way we see women. Check it out here.
From November 3rd, anyone traveling to the US must testify that they have not been in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the previous 21 days, this affects citizens too. Read here.
Last week, Nike shut down the runway at London City Airport for the night so thousands of women could experience the joy and safety of running after dark. See here.
Why you should not use the words "Middle East" and why everyone laughs at the words Middle West to refer to the UK and Far West to refer to the US. See here.
The most beautiful hotels in the world according to TimeOut editors. See the list here. Do you agree?
Best place to see the biggest eclipse of our lifetime next year. See the list here.
Have a wonderful rest of the week.
CO-FOUNDERS, SOLO FEMALE TRAVELERS
Solo Female Travelers C/ Europa 18 5-2, Sitges, 08870
