Uzbekistan Beyond the Highlights: A Second-Visit Guide

Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, then a flight home: that's the shape of nearly every first trip to Uzbekistan. It's a great route. It also stays on one narrow band of the map and skips almost all of the country's mountains, villages and regional life.

This guide is for the second trip. It assumes you've seen the Registan and walked the walls of Itchan Kala, and you now want the parts of Uzbekistan that don't appear on the posters. We've grouped them by region, with honest notes on how hard each is to reach and who'll enjoy it. There's a sample route at the end.

The Fergana Valley: where the crafts are made

On a first trip you buy the silk scarves and blue-and-white ceramics in Bukhara. On a second, you go to the towns that make them. The Fergana Valley, in the far east of the country, is Uzbekistan's most densely populated region and its craft heartland.

Margilan has the Yodgorlik silk factory, where you can watch ikat being tie-dyed and woven on hand looms, and the Kumtepa bazaar on Thursdays and Sundays.
Rishtan is a town of potters, famous for its turquoise glaze. Several family workshops welcome visitors.
Kokand has the Khudoyar Khan's palace, built in the 1870s and restored, plus an old centre that feels very different from the Silk Road cities.

Getting there is now easy. Trains cross the Kamchik Pass from Tashkent in about four to six hours depending on your destination, and there are short flights to Fergana and Namangan. Three days is enough for the main towns. Our Fergana Valley guide covers where to base yourself and how to move between the towns.

Who'll love it: anyone interested in how things are made. Who won't: travellers who want grand monuments. The valley's charm is in workshops and markets, not domes.

Karakalpakstan: art, desert and the lost sea

Karakalpakstan is an autonomous republic covering the whole northwest of the country. It has its own language and a very different feel. Two things bring people here.

The first is the Savitsky Museum in Nukus. In the Soviet decades, the painter and archaeologist Igor Savitsky gathered tens of thousands of objects, including one of the world's largest collections of Russian avant-garde art, much of it by artists who were banned or persecuted in Moscow. The museum's own site lists opening hours and current exhibitions. It's one of the most unexpected museums in Central Asia.

The second is the Aral Sea, or what's left of it. At Moynaq, about 200 kilometres north of Nukus, rusting fishing boats lie on sand that used to be the seabed. The shoreline is now more than 100 kilometres away. It's a sobering place, and our Moynaq ship cemetery guide explains how to visit and what you'll actually see.

Give it at least three days: one for Nukus, one for Moynaq, and a spare, because transport here runs less often than in the south. Many travellers pair it with the desert fortresses of ancient Khorezm, which lie between Khiva and Nukus.

Surkhandarya: the deep south

The southernmost province borders Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and it's the least visited region on this list. That's the appeal.

Termez sits on the Amu Darya river. In the first centuries AD it was a centre of Buddhism under the Kushan empire, and the excavated monastery at Fayaz Tepe, with its restored stupa, is the finest Buddhist site in the country. Termez also has important Islamic shrines, including the Sultan Saodat complex and the mausoleum of the Sufi scholar al-Hakim at-Termizi. Access to sites right on the Afghan border changes often, so check locally before setting out.

Boysun, in the mountains to the north, is a district whose traditions of music, rituals and crafts are recognised by UNESCO as the Cultural Space of Boysun District. Visit in spring if you can, when the Boysun Bahori folk festival is held.

Termez is about 90 minutes by air from Tashkent, or an overnight train. Our Termez travel guide has the details on getting around and on the border-area sites.

The Nuratau mountains: village life on foot

Between Samarkand and the Aydarkul lake, a low range called the Nuratau hides villages of stone houses, walnut groves and mountain streams. A community tourism project has set up simple homestays in villages such as Sentyab, Hayat and Asraf. You sleep in a family house, eat what they eat, and walk between villages with a local guide.

It's the closest thing Uzbekistan has to trekking between villages, and it's gentle: the walks take five or six hours, not twelve. Combine it with the fortress and sacred spring at Nurata town and a night in a yurt camp by the lake. For the town itself, see our Nurata travel guide.

Zaamin and the high mountains

If your first trip was all brick and tile, spend a few days above 2,000 metres. Zaamin National Park, in the Turkestan range, has juniper forests, meadows and mountain rivers, and it feels like a different country from the dusty plains below. It's reached from Jizzakh, which is on the high-speed line.

Closer to Tashkent, the Chimgan area and the Ugam-Chatkal National Park offer day hikes and a proper walk to the Paltau waterfall. Both are best from late May to early October. For a full breakdown of routes and seasons, our hiking guide covers the three main regions.

The classic cities, differently

A second trip doesn't have to avoid the famous cities. It can use them differently. Stay longer and go slower:

In Samarkand, skip the Registan by day and see the Afrasiyab museum, the Konigil paper workshop and the Siab bazaar instead.
In Bukhara, spend a morning in the residential lanes of the old Jewish quarter, and an afternoon at the Chor-Bakr necropolis outside town.
In Tashkent, look for the Soviet modernist buildings and the metro stations, which most first-time visitors rush past.

What changes once you leave the main route

The regions above are easy to visit, but they don't run on tourist infrastructure the way Samarkand does. A few practical things change the moment you leave the classic circuit.

Cash matters more. Card payments and ATMs that accept foreign cards are common in the big cities and thin out quickly elsewhere. In Nukus, Termez or a Nuratau village, assume you'll pay cash for rooms, meals and drivers. Withdraw enough som in a main city before you go.

Rooms are simpler and fewer. Boutique hotels in converted madrasahs are a Bukhara and Khiva thing. Outside them you'll find plain but clean city hotels, family guesthouses and homestays. Book ahead for Nukus and Termez, where the good options fill up with business travellers.

Transport runs less often. Where the Tashkent–Samarkand line has several fast trains a day, the Nukus line has a few a week, and some regional flights don't run daily. Build in a spare day around every long journey, and check timetables before you commit to a route.

Registration still applies. Homestays in villages should register you through the E-mehmon system, just as a hotel would. If you're staying with a family, ask them politely whether it's been done.

You'll be more of a curiosity. In the Fergana Valley or Surkhandarya, people stop to ask where you're from, and invitations to tea are common. It's one of the best reasons to make the trip.

A sample two-week second trip

This route uses trains and one domestic flight, and it avoids repeating the classic circuit:

Days 1–2: Tashkent, including a day trip to the Chimgan mountains.
Days 3–5: train over the Kamchik Pass to the Fergana Valley: Kokand, Rishtan and Margilan.
Day 6: back to Tashkent and on to Jizzakh by train.
Days 7–8: Zaamin National Park.
Days 9–10: Nuratau homestay and a night at a yurt camp at Aydarkul.
Days 11–13: fly to Nukus for the Savitsky Museum and a day at Moynaq.
Day 14: fly back to Tashkent.

Swap Karakalpakstan for Termez and Boysun if deserts don't appeal. Either way, you'll see a side of the country most visitors never do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to travel to Termez and the Afghan border area?

Termez itself is a normal provincial city and receives tourists without problems. Some archaeological sites sit right on the border, where access can be restricted by the security services at short notice. Check your government's current advice before you go, and ask at the local museum about which sites are open.

Do you need a guide outside the main cities?

Not in the Fergana Valley, Nukus or Termez, where independent travel is straightforward. A local guide is strongly recommended for the Nuratau village walks and for longer mountain hikes. In Karakalpakstan, a driver who knows the desert roads makes the trip to Moynaq much easier.

How much English is spoken outside the tourist cities?

Much less than in Samarkand or Bukhara. Younger people in cities often speak some English, but in villages you'll rely on Uzbek, Russian and gestures. A translation app with offline Russian and Uzbek is worth downloading before you leave the main route.

When is the best time for a second trip?

It depends on the region. The mountains and Nuratau are best from late May to early October. Karakalpakstan and Termez are very hot in July and August, so go in spring or autumn. The Fergana Valley works from April to October.

Can you still see the Aral Sea itself?

Yes, but it's a long trip. The remaining shore is far beyond Moynaq and needs a 4x4 tour, usually with a night camping on the Ustyurt plateau. Most visitors see the ship cemetery at Moynaq, which tells the story without the extra two days.

Featured image: Carpodacus (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons.