The best accommodations Uzbekistan

Budget & Tips

This will be the main expense of your trip. In the tourist cities: Khiva, Bukhara and Khiva, the prices can take off very strongly at the time of the peaks of tourist frequentation, and the establishments are not rare to be full. Count at least 15 € per night to sleep in the dormitory part of a B&B, and up to 70 € per person for the charming single rooms. An advantage of B&Bs: the breakfasts are often pantagruesque!

To be booked

It is now possible, through local agencies or some websites, to book your accommodation in advance. It is recommended during the high season (May/June and September/October) even if, in general, you always end up finding something. But if you don't want to spend all your time or all your budget, reservations are more than welcome during these periods.

What's very local

Hospitality is everywhere in Uzbekistan. But when you leave the country, you will have to produce at the airport the check-in tickets provided, night after night, by your hotels during your successive stops. While it is possible to accept an invitation from time to time, it will be difficult for you to explain that you have been sleeping in a local's house throughout your stay, even though this would be quite possible in reality. In addition, you may cause problems for the families who have hosted you.

The headache of registration. For some years now, tourists visiting Uzbekistan do not need to register with OVIR, the government body that manages the formalities for foreigners in the country. Tourists are now registered directly with the hotels. Not all hotels are authorized to receive foreign tourists: they undergo regular checks by the OVIR and can therefore be a little fussy about these formalities.

At the end of your stay at the hotel, the receptionist must give you a paper (the famous registration) stipulating the number of nights spent there. Hotels are more or less used to this practice and this formality can take more or less time. Usually, you will be asked to leave your passport at the beginning of your stay in order to copy all the necessary information before your departure, but allow a good half hour before leaving the hotel if this has not been done beforehand.

The registration paper can take many forms, from a scribbled Post-it to a printed form to a customized business card. It is important to make sure that the paper has the correct information (passport number, visa number, name and surname correctly entered, arrival and departure dates, signature and stamp of the establishment). Don't lose these papers, they will be requested when you leave the country: foreigners traveling on a tourist visa must be able to prove in which hotel they stayed each night of their stay.

In reality, it is possible not to sleep in a hotel if you are on the road during the night or if you are in the wilderness. Opinions differ: some tourism professionals speak of a quota of 3 possible nights without registration, others speak of 5 nights, others still say that all nights are mandatory. In short, when in doubt, it is better to be able to justify the entirety of your trip, without getting sick of it if you miss a night here or there. If you are traveling with an agency, inform them of any missing or undelivered registrations from your hotel so that they can have the situation rectified. If you are traveling solo and you are missing a valuable receipt, simply say that you were on the road or slept under the stars.