Overview
In Uzbekistan the table is the centre of every visit, and each region cooks differently. This private journey takes you into kitchens, bakeries and bazaars from Tashkent to Khiva, with four hands-on cooking classes and plenty of time for the great monuments along the way.
You stay one night in a family guesthouse in Gijduvan, the pottery town famous for its kebabs, and finish in Khorezm with green shivit oshi noodles and tukhum barak dumplings.
Your trip is planned and run by Khikmatilla, a licensed Uzbek tour guide and founder of Tashkentguide DMC, with licensed local guides in every city.
Highlights
- Four cooking classes: plov, Bukharan dishes, tandoor somsa and Khorezm noodles
- Wine tasting in Samarkand’s oldest winery
- Night in a potter’s town at Gijduvan
- Chorsu and Siab bazaars with a local guide
- Classic sights of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva
Prices are per person, private tour, and fall as your group grows. Choose Comfort (3*), Standard (4*) or Premium (5*) hotels. Single room supplement: US$245 / US$355 / US$625.
What's included
- 9 nights in hotels of your chosen category (DBL/TWIN) with breakfast
- Afrosiyob train Tashkent–Samarkand, train Bukhara–Khiva and flight Urgench–Tashkent (economy)
- 4 cooking classes, 5 lunches and 2 dinners as listed
- Wine tasting at the Khovrenko winery
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with driver for all transfers and sightseeing
- Licensed English-speaking local guide on sightseeing days (other languages on request)
- Entrance fees to the sights listed in the itinerary
- 0.5 L bottled water per person per day
- 24/7 support from our Tashkent team
- International flights and visa fees (many nationalities enter Uzbekistan visa-free)
- Lunches and dinners not listed in the itinerary
- Drinks, personal expenses and tips
- Camera fees at some monuments
- Early check-in and late check-out (standard check-in from 14:00)
- Travel insurance
Meeting and pickup
Tashkent airport or your hotel in Tashkent
Tashkent airport
Itinerary
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1
Day 1 · Arrival in Tashkent
Airport transfer. In the afternoon your guide leads you through the Chorsu bazaar, from spice rows to the bread hall, and to lunch at the Central Asian Plov Centre, where wedding plov is cooked in giant cauldrons. Short tour of the Khast Imam complex and Amir Timur square. Overnight in Tashkent.
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2
Day 2 · Bullet train to Samarkand – wine tasting
Morning Afrosiyob train to Samarkand (06:30–08:48). City tour: Registan, Gur-e-Amir and Bibi-Khanym. Late afternoon tasting of fortified wines and brandies at the Khovrenko winery, founded in 1868. Overnight in Samarkand.
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3
Day 3 · Samarkand: bread, plov and paper
Watch the round Samarkand non come out of the tandoor at the Siab bazaar, then cook plov with a local family and share it as lunch. Afternoon at the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis and the Konigil paper workshop. Overnight in Samarkand.
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4
Day 4 · Samarkand – Gijduvan (approx. 230 km)
Drive west, stopping at the Rabat-i-Malik caravanserai. In Gijduvan visit a ceramics workshop run by a family of master potters and taste the town's famous kebab for lunch. Evening in a family guesthouse. Overnight in Gijduvan.
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5
Day 5 · Gijduvan – Bukhara
Short drive to Bukhara (45 km). Guided walk through the old town: Lyabi-Hauz, the trading domes, Kalon minaret and Mir-i-Arab. In the evening cook Bukharan dishes with a local host, followed by dinner together. Overnight in Bukhara.
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6
Day 6 · Vabkent and village cooking
Excursion to Vabkent and its slender 12th-century minaret, and on to a village home where you learn to make somsa in a tandoor, followed by lunch. Overnight in Bukhara.
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7
Day 7 · Bukhara
Ark fortress, Bolo-Hauz mosque, the Samanid mausoleum and the summer palace of Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa. Free afternoon for tea houses and craft shops. Overnight in Bukhara.
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8
Day 8 · Train to Khiva
Morning train to Khiva (07:05–12:47). Afternoon walk in Ichan-Kala, then a cooking class of shivit oshi, Khorezm's dill-green noodles, and dinner. Overnight in Khiva.
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9
Day 9 · Khiva – evening flight to Tashkent
Morning sights in Ichan-Kala: Juma mosque, Tash-Hauli palace and the Islam-Khoja minaret. Lunch of tukhum barak dumplings. Evening flight from Urgench to Tashkent (approx. 20:15–21:35) and hotel transfer. Overnight in Tashkent.
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10
Day 10 · Departure
Breakfast and transfer to Tashkent airport.
Cancellation policy
- Cancel at least 720 hours before departure: 100% refund.
- Cancel at least 168 hours before departure: 50% refund.
- Less notice than that, or a no-show: 0% refund.
Full refund up to 30 days before arrival, 50% up to 7 days before, no refund after that.
Times are local Tashkent time (UTC+5).