Yurt camps in Kyzylkum desert

[ameet1983]

Hello all,

I'm super excited to be heading to Uzbekistan in October with my girlfriend, and was just wondering if anyone had recently had a good time in one of the yurt camps in Kyzylkum desert. I know the review by the site owner here and in the lonely planet seems good, but when I read the reviews on google and especially tripadvisor the majority were so bad for all three camps - Sputnik Yurt Camp, Aidar Yurt Camp and Qizilqum (Kizilkum) Safari Yurt Camp, and it makes them seem like just tourist holes with terrible service and poor quality food and an an unpleasant experience.

I love the idea of being off the beaten track and will try a homestay in Nurata mountains for a couple of days but just wondering whether to add a night on for the yurt camps and a one day camel trek.

Any help or advice would be so gladly welcome.

Ameet

[steven]

Sorry, I just saw this: for your purposes - don't go. The homestays are great for independent travelers, although big tour groups also visit them these days, but the yurt stays are really geared towards the tour groups, and as an independent traveler, you will feel as a fish out of water.

I will try to make it more clear on the Kyzylkum page.

[jacob857]

Going to the yurt camps middle September, is it recommended to have a sleeping bag with you, or it should be warm enough inside the tents?

[steven]

They have blankets should you get cold. It's properly organised, most people coming are not backpackers.

[jacob857]

@steven thanks for reply. Finally we went to a different yurt camp, near Ayaz-Qala. We took sleeping bags to be more flexible for mountain treks; at the yurt we were fine with blankets, although I got cold in the head at night.

I'd recommend to have a buff/thin cap to put on your head for the night.

[steven]

How was the food at Ayaz Qala? I have heard complaints, quite a few people got sick in the past apparently.

[jacob857]

Food at Ayaz-Qala was plenty and delicious. Amazingly good plov for the dinner (I took several "refills"), some pasta with cold grilled vegetables, bread, plus some other thing I don't remember. There were also many fruits (apples, grapes), biscuits and raisins on the table. Breakfast was similar except no plov, but with raw veggies available (tomato, onion, beetroot salad).

Only minor drawback was that the lady asked us if we wanted beer and then brought it, but didn't tell it wasn't included in the price. We finally paid 10,000 som per person for the beer (she wanted a bit more initially).