Itinerary Uzbekistan 14 days - feedback appreciated

[rhinomaxil]

Hi all,

I have a few questions on my planned itinerary for Uzbekistan for end of October. To give you a bit of context, we are a couple on a longer trip over Central Asia and we will come from Tajikistan, but another couple will be visiting us in Uzbekistan. Therefore I think it would be interesting for them to see a bit of "village life" beside the big cities and that’s why I have included Sentyob.

Here is the itinerary:
*23/10 - Tashkent
*24/10 - Tashkent
*25/10 - Tashkent-Samarkand (train)
*26/10 - Samarkand
*27/10 - Samarkand
*28/10 - Samarkand-Navoi (train) -Nourata-Sentyab
*29/10 - Sentyab-Nourata-Navoi-Bukhara (train)
*30/10 - Bukhara
*31/10 - Bukhara
*01/11 - Bukhara-Khiva (train)
*02/11 - Khiva
*03/11 - Khiva (Khiva-Urgentch)
*04/11 - Urgentch-Tashkent (flight)

My questions are:
- what do you think of the balance between the big cities in terms of number of days/nights?
- is 2d/1n enough for Sentyob or should I add another night? Alternatively, should I add one night in a yurt camp in Kyzylkum desert or is it really too touristy/too far?
- how do you get to Sentyob from Samarkand and then to Bukhara? From what I read there should be a good combo ‘train to Navoi-taxi to Nourata-taxi to Sentyob’ but maybe it’s better/cheaper/faster to arrange a private taxi all the way from Samarkand/to Bukhara?
- they booked a 9:30am flight from Urgentch to Tashkent on the last day; should they sleep in Urgentch the night before or sleeping in Khiva is fine as well?
- how is Uzbekistan in general end-October/beginning-November, both in terms of crowds of tourists and weather?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Thanks a lot,
François

[rhinomaxil]

Hi again,

Any feedback on this? I’ve been quoted a 2D/1N tour for Nuratau mountains for 145$/pers for 4 people including driving from Samarkand to Asraf and then to Bukhara the next day, 1 night in a guesthouse and 3 meals. Does anyone has any idea for a better price?

Thanks a lot,
François

[steven]

Hi!

first off, you're better off going Samarkand - Sentyab - Nurata - Navoi - bukhara. Otherwise you are backtracking. Not sure where you read that that is the quickest way, hopefully not on this website. I'll need to make that more clear. Either go via taxi first to Jizzakh and get picked up there, or a direct taxi from Samarkand to Sentyab can bypass Jizzakh.

With this much time in Khiva, I think you can add in Nukus. Otherwise, balanced itinerary, I think.

Crowds/weather: lots of people still but not as much as mid-October. Weather is perfect in my view: not too sunny, but a classic European might want it more hot/sunny.

It's a 45-minute to 1h drive to Urgench airport from Khiva. You can sleep in Khiva I think. Just have to get up a bit earlier.

[rhinomaxil]

Thanks a lot!