BUKHARA

Best things to do in Bukhara

Of the Silk Road cities, Bukhara is the one that still feels lived in from end to end. The old centre is small enough to cross on foot in half an hour, and its 140-odd monuments stand between houses, tea rooms and workshops rather than behind fences. Give it two days: one for the great buildings, one for the lanes, the trading domes and a long evening at Lyabi-Hauz.

Po-i-Kalyan: the minaret and the great mosque

Po-i-Kalyan: the minaret and the great mosque

  • Morning and after dark
  • Shoulders and knees covered
  • The centre of every walk

The heart of the old town. The Kalyan minaret went up in 1127 and stands about 46 metres; when Genghis Khan took Bukhara in 1220 and burned most of it, the story goes that he ordered this tower spared. At its foot the Kalyan mosque, finished in 1514, holds some 12,000 worshippers in a courtyard of arcades. Come twice — in the morning for the brickwork, which is laid in a different pattern on every band, and after dark, when the minaret is lit gold.

Mir-i-Arab madrasa

Mir-i-Arab madrasa

  • Still a working school
  • Courtyard view only
  • Best light late afternoon

Facing the mosque across the square, with the two turquoise domes that end up on every postcard of Bukhara. It was built in 1535–1536 with the spoils of Ubaidullah Khan's campaigns, and the khan is buried inside. Unlike most madrasas in the country it is still a working religious school, so visitors see the entrance hall and the courtyard through the gate — the best view of it is from the minaret's side of the square.

Lyabi-Hauz

  • Evenings
  • Tea houses on the water
  • Folklore show

A stone pool under old mulberry trees, closed on three sides by buildings put up between 1568 and 1622 — among them Kukeldash, the largest madrasa in the city, and Nadir Divan-Begi, whose portal shows two simurghs, mythical birds, carrying deer towards a sun with a human face, a rare image on an Islamic building. In the evening the tea houses round the water fill up, and the Nadir Divan-Begi courtyard hosts a folklore show with dinner.

What else to see

  • The Ark and Bolo Hauz mosqueThe emirs' fortress sits on its own mound at the west end of the old town. Much of it was destroyed when the Red Army stormed the city in 1920; what stands holds the museums and the old throne court. Cross the square to Bolo Hauz, the emir's Friday mosque of 1712, where twenty slim wooden columns added in 1917 hold up the porch and stand doubled in the pool in front.
  • Samanid mausoleumBuilt between 892 and 943 for Ismail Samani, the founder of the Samanid dynasty, and one of the oldest buildings in Central Asia. It is a small cube of baked brick, but the brick is laid in so many patterns that the walls look woven, and they change with every hour of light. It stands in a park a short walk west of the Ark.
  • The trading domesFour covered markets survive on the old trade street: Toki Sarrofon, once the money changers'; Toki Telpak Furushon, first for books and later for hats; Toki Zargaron, the jewellers'; and Tim Abdullah Khan, built in 1577 for silk and wool. They still sell — carpets, ikat, knives, embroidery, copper — and most of the best workshops are a step off the main passage.
  • Chor MinorFour small towers with turquoise domes, hidden in the lanes north-east of Lyabi-Hauz: the gatehouse of a madrasa opened in 1807. One tower collapsed in 1995 and was rebuilt. It takes ten minutes to see and is easy to miss without someone who knows the turns.
  • Magoki Attori mosqueFirst built in the 9th century, with a south façade from the 12th, and sunk several metres below today's street — the city has risen around it. It was dug out in 1935 and now holds a small carpet museum, between Lyabi-Hauz and the domes.
  • Outside the old townSitorai Mokhi-Khosa, the summer palace the last emir built between 1912 and 1918, mixes European rooms with Bukharan plaster and now houses a museum of decorative arts. About 10 km north-east is the memorial complex of Bahauddin Naqshband, founder of the Naqshbandi Sufi order and a place of pilgrimage. Both are easiest by car, and we arrange them together as a half-day.

What to know before you go

  • How long to stayTwo full days covers it without rushing: the Ark, Po-i-Kalyan and the Samanids on one, the domes, Chor Minor and an evening at Lyabi-Hauz on the other. A third day fits the summer palace and Bahauddin Naqshband.
  • Getting thereHigh-speed Afrosiyob trains run from Tashkent in about four hours and from Samarkand in under two, but they stop at Kagan, about 15 km from the old town. Plan the last leg before you arrive — taxis at the station are a negotiation, a booked car is not.
  • When to goApril to early June and September to October are the best months. July and August are fierce in the middle of the day — sightsee early, rest at noon, go out again at six. Winter is quiet and mild, with a few cold days.
  • What to wear and carryShoulders and knees covered for mosques and shrines, a scarf for women at Bahauddin Naqshband, comfortable shoes for the old brick paving, and some cash in small notes for the domes and tea houses.

Bukhara city tour

The Ark, the Samanid mausoleum, Po-i-Kalyan, Lyabi-Hauz and the domes in one day, with a guide who tells you what the buildings don't — and which workshop under the domes is worth your money. From €30 per person.

See the tour

Arriving by train?

Every train stops at Kagan, about 15 km outside Bukhara. Our driver meets you on the platform with a name sign and has you at your hotel in around 20 minutes.

Book a transfer

What we can arrange

All of it we book ourselves. Write once with your dates and you get an answer with a price, not another search form.

Send a request