Hi All,
Anybody has the new E-mail address of Antica B&B, Samarkand?
I sent an E-mail to antica2006@rambler.ru but without success.
The same happened when sending an E-mail to Gulnara guesthouse in Tashkent: gulnara@globalnet.uz
I think my E-mail server is working correctly.
Is there any safe web page from where Uzbek guesthouses/hotels can be booked?
Thanks!
I used a different address (anticasamarkand@hotmail.com) but I had to wait 8 days for their reply.
Very best.
Fulvio
The Gulnara is always full, so some sort of booking is advisable. The Antica was not at all full about a week ago, and there are two other GH within 100metres. I wasn't that impressed with Antica (terrible plumbing, ridiculous beds weighed down with vast quilts and counterpanes - in mid-summer!!!).
Hi, we were recently (july 2011) in Uzbekistan and stayed at both places: Antica and Gulnara.
Antica - might be overrated considering the price (50USD doubleroom) but there are not that many guesthouses in Samarkand (as compared to Bukhara) and the place is nice (garden, spacious room, though "oldish" beds). But breakfast is the best we've had: fruit, freshly cooked things, breat, homemade jam, .... not just the fried eggs tea bread that you find elsewhere.
Gulnara - clean and with a good atmosphere, but terrible plumbing. At least in the upstairs, we booked an ensuite room and yes, it did have a bathroom, but with NO running water unless you walked down two floors and asked them to connect the water pump. So don't book an ensuite room, as you will have to go down to the common areas (where the common bathroom is) to wash your hands or teeth...
We complained about that to the owner but he didn't give us a discount, or change our room or anything.
Enjoy Uzbekistan!
As Samarkand is concerned there is a very good alternative to Antica B&B, Jahongir B&B. It opened just 2009, has nice garden, very good prices (I payed 20 $ for beautifully decorated single bed room with shower), great breakfast and nice people. Jahongir is located perfectly around between 5 and 10 minutes walk to Registan.
I also stayed in Gulnara's guesthouse and liked it very much there. People were very friendly and I enjoyed my time there (altogether at the beginning and end of my travelling 2010 around one week). At the end I stayed on the right side of the building. There it is right you must tell them to open the water boiler if you want to take a shower. To be honest, you just go down the stairs and tell them. So what is the problem? At the beginning I stayed at other side of the building and there is no water problem at all. I payed 20 $ for the room and very big breakfast. As I am planning a trip to central asia again in october I will go to Gulnara's place again.
Gulnara in Tashkent is very overrated to say the least.
I would not use the words friendly or hospitable to describe the elderly owner. The best word describing his attitude is hostile, especially when he throws the backpacks of guests out at the dot of 12 aka checkout time. The first day he did this I laughed, the second day for another guest I thought it amusing, and on the third day when it was my bag... not so funny.