About us - Tips for travelers
Well, you have already made a decision and started your travel preparations to Uzbekistan. Firstly, it is necessary for you to choose the right time of the year to travel.
The highest tourist season in Uzbekistan is in April – May and from mid-august to the end of October. It is because the temperature during this period is very favorable to travel.
It is still rainy in March and the average temperature in the daytime is from +12 0С to +18 0С. It goes up to +20 0С +22 0С in April, all blossoms out and there may be only small precipitations as warm and short rain.
The temperature is already +30 0С in May and even higher towards the end of May, but for all that, the temperature in Tashkent and Samarkand is always lower than in Bukhara and Khiva.
Uzbekistan is the secular country and therefore shorts or short skirts, T-shirts, convenient footwear such as sandals or moccasins are considered as necessary wardrobe attribute of the tourist.
In simmer time, the temperature in Bukhara and Khiva is usually +40 0С and higher in the sun, so easy head-dresses like caps, panama hats as well as sun glasses would be helpful. The only exception is not to visit the active mosques with shorts and short-skirts on because of traditions and respect for believers (Abdi Darun, Abdi Birun Mosques in Samarkand).
It is possible to take photo and video in all monuments. In most of the tourist sites this service is to be paid. It is not allowed to take photo and video at the airports, railway stations, metro and in active mosques only by permission of the religious believers (usually there is no rejection).
The only means of payment in Uzbekistan is the local Uzbek currency – Sum.
Also, it should be noted that all payment accounts are attached to US Dollar, not Euro. You can exchange American dollars, Euro, British pounds and Japanese yens in the banks or exchange offices. You can draw cash money out of the credit cards (Visa Card, Master Card, and Travelers Cheque) only in the main bank offices and 3% of tax fee is charged.
Payment can be settled by credit cards only in the hotels of not less than 4* category such as in Tashkent – Intercontinental, Dedeman Silk Road, Radisson Sas, Grand Mir, Tashkent Palace and etc, in Samarkand - President Palace and Afrosiyab Palace, in Bukhara – Bukhara Palace, in Urgench – Khorezm Palace.
There are no cash machines (ATM) in the streets.
During peak tourist season there could be problems to have cash Uzbek sums in Khiva and Bukhara, so it is better to exchange your currency into local currency (sum) in Tashkent as there are a big number of exchange offices. No commission is charged while exchanging money and if you have some Uzbek sums left in the end of tour, you can also change it back to dollars or euro.
There are souvenir shops at the monuments and tourist sites throughout where you can purchase souvenirs of all kinds, ceramics, silver and semiprecious stone products, copper and brass chasing, carpets, silk products, all made by local masters. Maps, postage stamps, postcards, batteries and films for cameras can be found there as well.
Regarding the cellular phone network in Uzbekistan, currently, there are three main mobile operators with international roaming system in many countries of the world: “Uzdunrobita”, “Daewoo Unitel” and “Coscom”. The most developed one is Uzdunrobita which covers almost 90% of the whole territory of Uzbekistan.
As for foodstuff and traditional cuisine of Uzbekistan, it is in abundance of wide choice of meals, mainly with lamb and beef. The Uzbek traditional meal “plov” with meat and rice is very popular and cooking method is different in each region. Meals, like “manti” (a sort of dumpling) and “naryn”, cooked with dough and meat are popular as well. Cream soups are not wide spread in Uzbekistan (except for the hotel and famous expensive restaurants), but the local soups you are offered to have for lunch or dinner are very delicious (they are shurpa, mampar, borsch- red-beet soup, chicken soup with noodles and etc.).
There is a large selection of fruits and vegetables and accordingly salads of all kinds as meat, dietetic and vegetarian ones. Of course, Uzbek melons are wonderful (melon season is from June to November inclusive). But, you should remember a tip – don’t have a melon, water melon or grapes with beer. Better do it with hot and helpful green tea.
During your stay in Uzbekistan, you can have vodka for dinner which is of a broad assortment and the price is 2$ to 15$ for a bottle. There is also a wide choice of mineral water, both soda and still, in plastic bottles of 250 grams to 2 litres at the price of 0,5$ to 1,5$.
There are the restaurants in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara with traditional and European meals which are intended for foreign guests and tourists. The most popular ones are as follows:
Tashkent – Karavan, Barkhan, Buyuk Sarbon, Bahor and etc. with interesting show program, Samarkand – Staraya arba, Aphrodite, Karimbek and others…
Bukhara – Labi Hauz, Chashmai-mirob, Ismail, Bella Italia and so on…
As Uzbekistan is a tourist country, it is accepted to give a tip to the guides, drivers, waiters/waitresses at the restaurants and hotel personnel. Tipping the taxi drivers is not accepted.
