Uzbekistan is probably one of the most underrated destinations our family has ever visited. After years of wanting to visit Uzbekistan, we finally made the trip happen on April 2024, and it quickly became one of our family’s favorite destinations! If you are thinking about traveling to Uzbekistan with kids, you should! In this post we’ll tell you what you need to know to visit this Central Asia country and have the best time!
Traveling to Uzbekistan with kids is super easy because the country is super safe and very kid-friendly. Children are welcome everywhere with big smiles and open arms!
Know Before You Go
Visas: Before you can visit Uzbekistan with kids, you need to apply for an e-visa. Children under 16 do not need a visa to enter Uzbekistan as long as they are traveling with an adult. Be sure to always check the country’s most recent entry requirements before planning a trip there. Make sure you allow enough time for the visa to be processed, and to troubleshoot any issues you might have when applying (FYI there are very specific requirements for the digital photo you have to upload and if you don’t follow them, the online portal won’t work; there are threads online with tips on how to do it right, which was a lifesaver for us!).
You can apply for a single entry visa or a multiple entry one. We applied for a multiple entry visa in case we felt compelled to take a quick side trip to Kazakhstan or Tajikistan. In general, we would recommend getting the multiple entry visa just in case there’s a reason you need to leave the country and come back.
Money: When traveling in Uzbekistan with kids, it is a good idea to always carry cash with you. This is especially important when visiting smaller cities like Khiva where ATMs run out of cash or are more likely to be out of order. We know this firsthand because we showed up in Khiva with just a little cash only to find the ATMs didn’t work. Fortunately, they were all replenished by the next morning, but we still had a bit of stress in the meantime. As a rule of thumb, load up on cash whenever you find an ATM that works for you!
As for money, we would recommend bringing a good chunk of USD with you (enough to cover your hotels / guesthouses, with some extra for any big planned expenses like tours). The country is super safe, so having quite a bit of cash won’t be a problem (see Safety below). Then always withdraw from ATMs in the local currency for a better exchange rate. Uzbek money is called Uzbekistani Som (UZS). On April 2024, 1US$ was about 13,000.00 UZS. Withdrawing US$100 made us millionaires!
During your time in Uzbekistan, be prepared for your credit card to be declined in many places (another reason to carry cash on you!). Ours was denied at two hotels, and at the market when purchasing a silk carpet. This was tricky because we had to pull out tons of cash from the ATM to cover the cost of lodging, plus the stress of wondering if the ATMs would work. Fortunately, it all worked out well at the end.
Food: When ordering food at restaurants, be aware that serving sizes can be quite big! Our family of four usually shared a couple of mains and a salad for meals and it always worked great. Food is very approachable for young kids, including lots of tasty salads and rice dishes. Uzbekistan has delicious bread, so make sure you always order some bread with your meals. Our kids especially enjoyed the bread, which made waiting for food a lot better. One or more salads are also standard, and you don’t want to miss on their delicious freshness. Another thing we noticed was that breakfast was a big and very delicious meal. Everywhere we stayed at included breakfast, and the spread was always impressive. We loved how a big breakfast set us up for a great morning of exploring!
Religion: Regarding religion, Uzbekistan is not officially a Muslim country, but Islam is the dominant religion in Uzbekistan. As a result, many of the main sites in Uzbekistan are Islamic and you should be respectful when visiting them. Women must cover their heads when visiting places of worship and sacred places. Fortunately, all these places always have scarfs you can borrow. And please don’t be like some people I saw who immediately removed the headscarf once they entered the site.
Language: The official language in Uzbekistan is Uzbek. Russian is widely spoken and understood too. We learned how to say the basics in Uzbek, and how to say ‘thank you’ in Russian, and those were always well-received by people. We used Google Translate to communicate on various occasions, and all in all were able to get by without being able to speak either Uzbek or Russian.
Less Tourists!: Finally, be prepared to enjoy this beautiful country without the hoards of tourists you find in places like Italy or France.
When to Visit
The best time to visit Uzbekistan is during the Spring and Autumn months when the temperatures are moderate. Winter can be very cold and dark, and summer can be super hot, with temperatures soaring well into the 40s Centigrade. A friend of ours who is from Uzbekistan strongly advised us against visiting during winter or summer break because we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our trip nearly as much with the extreme temperatures during those times. So, since we tend to always listen to suggestions by locals, we decided to visit during our kids’ spring break in early April, and we had the most perfect weather for walking around and exploring!
Getting There
Getting to Uzbekistan from the United States is not the quickest trip in the world. When you add the 12 hour timezone change, it becomes a bit daunting to visit Uzbekistan with kids. Fortunately, we found the journey there not too bad. We flew Turkish Airlines direct from San Francisco to Istanbul, had a 4-hour layover in Istanbul, and then flew six hours to Tashkent from there. We arrived in Tashkent past midnight. We went to bed, and got up ready to explore the next day after a big breakfast. The jet lag was not too bad!
On the way back from Uzbekistan we took advantage of Turkish Airlines stopover in Istanbul program, and spent an extra day exploring Istanbul!
It is much easier to get to Uzbekistan from Europe, which probably explains why the tourists we saw were mainly from Italy and Spain. I believe some Spaniards told us it took them about 5 hours to reach Tashkent from Spain. Not bad at all!
Getting Around
Uzbekistan’s main cities are well connected by regular train and high speed trains operated by Uzbekistan Railways. The high speed trains are excellent, and the same they have in Spain. You can also choose to fly between cities if that works best for you. For our trip, we chose to catch a flight on Uzbekistan Airlines to get to Khiva from Tashkent. From Khiva, we hired a private transport to get to Bukhara because we wanted to stop at the Khorezm fortresses along the way. We traveled from Bukhara to Samarkand, and Samarkand to Tashkent using high speed trains (we went as fast as 220km/h).
Note: the high speed train tickets become available online at a certain point in advance, and they sell out fast. Make sure you pay attention and buy your tickets online well in advance to guarantee your seats. You can choose your seats when purchasing online, and it worked perfectly to show the train staff the PDF e-confirmation on our phone for boarding the train. Added plus is the train tickets are very affordable, and the train is very modern and comfortable!
An added perk to taking the train is checking out the beautiful train stations!
Within cities, you can take taxis to move around, though we found most cities to be super walking friendly. One thing to know is that regular people will offer you taxi services, and this apparently is totally safe and okay to do. In Samarkand, the guy who had a store near our apartment gave us a ride one time when there were no taxis around. We asked him about taxis and he just asked his friends to keep an eye on the store, and told us he could take us! He overcharged us a bit (less than a dollar with the currency exchange), kind of a like a price surge. I love experiences like this when traveling!
Safety
Uzbekistan is one of the safest places we’ve ever traveled to with our kids! We never even remotely worried about our safety. People were helpful and welcoming, even with the language barrier. It felt safe to withdraw money in public spaces, even in crowded ones. We didn’t have to worry about pickpocketing or opportunistic crime, and we always felt safe walking around at any time of day. It was super low key! I mean, not even the paranoid US State Department has any warnings about traveling there!
Where To Go – Two Week Itinerary
Before our trip to Uzbekistan with kids we spent a lot of time mapping a route that would allow us to see as much as possible without feeling rushed. This is the itinerary we went with:
Day 1: Arrive in Tashkent late at night
Day 2: Tashkent
Day 3: Early flight to Khiva
Day 4: Private transfer to Bukhara via the Khorezm Fortresses
Days 5-6: Bukhara
Day 7: Take the afternoon train to Samarkand
Days 8-9: Samarkand
Day 10: Take the afternoon train back to Tashkent
Day 11: Fly out of Tashkent to Istanbul
Day 12: Istanbul
Day 13: Fly back to San Francisco from Istanbul
Some people choose to fly to Khiva and back to Tashkent on the same day. We felt that would be too rushed with the kids. We also saw people do the same route but in the opposite direction, taking a train to Samarkand first and ending in Khiva before flying back to Tashkent. For us it worked best to get to the farthest point first and then slowly make our way back. Khiva is pretty far out, and we think that flying one way there is a good idea to save driving both directions. The flights are also super affordable.
Where To Stay
When we started planning our trip, we first checked Airbnb to look for places to stay in Uzbekistan with kids. Airbnb is not widely used in Uzbekistan, so we used Booking.com to book guesthouses and hotels for our stay. In contrast to Airbnb which charges you ahead of time, the guesthouses and hotels collected payment at check-in (so word to the wise: bring USD to cover your stays so you’re ready to pay and don’t need to try and pull out a bunch of money from ATMs like we had to!).
Sleeping arrangements varied a lot! Both our hotels in Tashkent (and in Istanbul later on) had quadruple rooms consisting of two connected bedrooms. In Khiva and Bukhara we had a room with 4 single beds and a private bathroom. Our hotel in Samarkand also had 4 single beds and a private bathroom. All of our stays included a very generous and delicious breakfast.
We definitely had a great time in Uzbekistan. It left us wanting to explore more of the country and the overall region! I learned about the Silk Road when I was a young kid, and having visited ancient cities along that route feels a bit surreal. This region is so full of history and I feel lucky to have been able to be there, and to show my kids such an interesting place. If Uzbekistan was not on your list yet, I hope I’ve inspired you to take a trip there.
If you are looking for more inspiration for places to visit, click here to learn about other destinations.
