- Getting there / away
We took the Sharq from Tashkent – departed Tashkent at 08:15 and arrived Bukhara at around 15:30 (scheduled 14:45). We left it too late to get first class and therefore had to take second class – a seat cost about £7 in mid June 2010.
If you can, get first class. Second class was hot, cramped, and hell on earth with the raging hangover that I had.
The station is about 10km from Bukhara, in a place called Kagan. The going rate for a taxi from Bukhara to Kagan and vice versa was 5000 sum in mid June 2010.
On leaving Bukhara we travelled to Samarkand on the Sharq going in the opposite direction; it left at around 8am again from memory and was about £3.
- Accommodation
We stayed at the Hotel Amelia, which was excellent value for money for $50 for a twin room. Nice enough breakfast and it was pretty much brand new.
We heard anecdotes from travelers who had arrived with nothing booked and managed to negotiate hotels down to as low as $18 for a double, so if you have time it may pay to shop around.
- Eating
If you are interested in a crash diet, Bukhara is the place to come, particularly if you choose to eat shashlik at any of the cafes around the Lyabi-Hauz pool. The colour of the water in the pool itself should have been a give away, particularly as fountains operate in the evening and have a tendency to spray patrons at the surrounding restaurants!
Consequently, after two meals at the pool we were pretty much unable to eat again during our stay in Bukhara. Nonetheless, there is live music at the Lyabi-Hauz in the evenings and it is quite a good atmosphere.
- Drinking
You’ll get a beer in somewhere like the Hotel Asia, where we watched a couple of World Cup games, but Bukhara isn’t a party town. We heard about some nightclub out of the centre but we couldn’t really be bothered – the heat was oppressive and we weren’t in the best of shape following our shashlik experience.
- Sights
Just wandering around Bukhara is a great experience in itself. The Ark is obviously a must see and we took a guide from the entrance – from memory, our ticket and guide cost about £5 each. We decided to give a miss to climbing the Soviet-era water tower over the road after our guide warned us it wasn’t too stable!
In addition to the Ark, be sure to take in the Kalon Mosque and Minaret, lugbek Medressa and the Mir-i-Arab Medressa (well, at least as much of it as is open to tourists.
The only relative downside to Bukhara’s architecture is the number of ancient buildings now occupied by tourist shops. We had vendors literally chasing us into their shops at times; business seems to be pretty tough for these guys out of season.
We took in the “Folklore and Fashion” show at the Nadir Divanbegi Medressa, which cost about £4 (10000 sum) and would have been another £4 for the dinner, which was effectively just some breads and meats on the table. It starts at 7.30pm, daily I understand, lasts an hour and was alright but obviously focused on the tourist trade and the performers looked bored out of their minds. I’d probably recommend it to kill an hour.
- Money
We didn’t find an ATM in Bukhara so make sure you bring enough cash with you – dollars are king.
