Accommodation - booking in advance or on the fly?

[steven]

There will always be a bed available, but the nicest/cheapest accommodations will likely be booked out.

[Wolkman]

Hi all,

In less then a month, me and my gf are going to on a 5 week trip trough Uzbek-Taj-Kyrg-Kazakh and we already booked our first hotel in Tashkent. As I like to keep a bit of flexibility in how long to spent in each town/city, I would prefer to book accomodation just a few days in advance or find it on the spot when arriving. Is this feasable or would you advice to book most accomodation already (weeks) in advance, i.e. making a fixed itinerary? We are there from start June till half July, so generally high season. I would not like to end up in one of those obsolete Soviet style "hotels"

Thanks!

[steven]

If you want to stay in your desired places in Uzbekistan, I advise to book in advance. The lovely bnbs in Samarkand and Bukhara and Khiva are small: they do sell out in advance.

If you are not too fussy, you should always be able to find a space, if not the one you wanted. There are no more Soviet-style hotels though. Generally service level is high and there have been renovations, even in the lesser hotels.

[Wolkman]

Great, thanks Stephen for your reply!

[JillStafford]

Hello

We will be traveling to Uzbek, Tajik, Kygyz and Kazakhstan from the months of May to beginning of August. I usually like to book accommodation in advance so that I know I have a place to stay and can feel a bit more comfortable knowing that I have somewhere to rest my head when I arrive. That being said, it seems that maybe these destinations are best for accommodation more on the fly due to train schedules and potential fluctuations with service and accessibility. Is this fair to say or do you think it is best to still book ahead? I'd love some insight from people who've been here and can provide some clarity for me.

Thanks
Jill

[steven]

I noticed this question returns often so I decided to merge them all into 1 thread and write a dedicated chapter to it in the accommodation guide. It's on my urgent list but I haven't found the time for it yet. Sorry!

You will find a lot of answers in the posts above now that I merged your thread with the previous ones.

Usually no problem to not book in advance, but for UZbekistan, I am not sure what it will be like this year. A lot more tourists will come because of promotion and especially visa-free, but new hotels have not been built yet. So if you want something specific, book in advance. If yo udont really care so much about where you stay, you can always find a place. At least, until last year. Maybe this year will be really busy. I cannot predict.