A travel budget for Uzbekistan

‘A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.’ – Dave Ramsey.

Our budget for Uzbekistan

When we were planning our trip to Uzbekistan, we often discussed our budget. We went back and forth over the right amount of money to bring with us. Ultimately, we decided to take £500 (USD$650) each to cover all accommodation, travel, food and other expenses while in Uzbekistan for two weeks. This equates to just under £36 (USD$46) per person per day. We booked our flights separately, outside of our joint £1,000 (USD$1,300) budget.

Having read the guide book and some blog posts, I knew Uzbekistan wouldn’t be an expensive country. I think it’s always a good idea to have some reserve cash, so our budget seemed perfect. However, I was quite unprepared for exactly how cheap it would be to visit Uzbekistan!

Uzbekistan is extremely cheap!

I think this may well be the cheapest country I’ve ever travelled in. Invariably, I would be very pleasantly surprised when a bill came or we were told the price of something. Uzbekistan isn’t just cheap – it is ridiculously cheap. Food, travel, accommodation, souvenirs, entry into attractions… Nothing was expensive.

Both Mum and I feel that we ended up having a pretty luxurious holiday with our combined budget of £1,000 and we never once felt that we had to compromise e.g. pick one attraction over another because of cost. We ate out for all meals bar breakfast, each had our own private rooms in most of our lovely guesthouses, visited all the attractions and bought all the souvenirs we could carry. All that, and we still had money left over at the airport before we flew home!

Our daily budget

Before I break down our budget, I should explain that we weren’t trying to save money from our £1,000. We had set it aside for this holiday and we did end up spending pretty much every penny (finally getting rid of the last of our money at the airport!). However, I hope to demonstrate that Uzbekistan is very budget-friendly, and you can easily visit this country and spend far less than we did, while still having a very enjoyable time. Even our budget of £36 (USD$46) per day per person seems excessive in Uzbekistan if you were to share a room in a guesthouse and avoid buying too many souvenirs or taking a private desert tour.

Had we shared our room at every guesthouse, avoided the desert tour and bought fewer souvenirs, I daresay we could have quite easily sustained our two week trip on a £25 per person per day (USD$32) daily budget (£700 or USD$910 for two people for two weeks). We could have, perhaps, gone even lower had our money really needed to stretch.

To give you an idea of just how cheap things were, I’ve broken down some of our spending by destination visited in Uzbekistan during the two weeks.

The Budget Breakdown

Tashkent

An en-suite twin room (we shared) at the Alliance Hotel Tashkent, near the train station and airport, with breakfast included, for one night – USD$58 (USD$29 per person per night).

Two coffees – USD$3.70 (USD$1.60 per person).

Entry into the Amir Timur Museum – USD$1.70 (USD$0.85 per person). Please be aware that if you take photographs here, you need to buy a photography pass at an extra cost.

Two trips on Tashkent’s Metro – USD$0.64 (USD$0.32 per person for two trips). We took the metro to Chorsu Bazaar and then back to our hotel. It was easy to navigate and the locals helped us too, which was lovely!

Taxis around Tashkent (we took two, with journey times no more than 10-20 minutes) – USD$3 (USD$1.50 per person for both trips).

Night train from Tashkent to Khiva – USD$140 (USD$70 per person). We paid for our night train in advance using the excellent Advantour agency. The price of these tickets was considerably higher than if we’d booked the train locally.

Khiva

Two separate private en-suite rooms at a family-run guesthouse named Mubina Khiva B&B, a five minute walk from all of the main attractions, with breakfast included, for two nights – USD$90 (USD$22.50 per person per night).

Evening meals at the Terrassa Cafe on both nights we were in Khiva, including mains, sides and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks – USD$22 (USD$11 per person for two nights).

VIP tickets for entry into all of Khiva’s main attractions and tourist sites e.g. the madrassas, the walls, the gatehouse etc – USD$25.20 (USD$12.60 per person).
Note: this is what we paid on the day and there was no extra charge for photography when I asked. However, I’ve seen other prices quoted on different websites, so perhaps the ticket prices fluctuate according to season etc. I paid extra to climb the Islam Khodja minaret (no more than about USD$1-2 more).

Taxi to and from train station (a journey of approx. 10-15 minutes) – USD$7 (USD$3.50 per person for both trips). We paid slightly more on the return trip as we organised our taxi through our accommodation.

Train from Khiva to Bukhara – USD$19.50 (USD$9.75 per person) for an eight hour trip in Platskart class (carriage with double-bunk arrangement berth). You can pay more for higher class tickets. Advantour have this useful page that explains the train classes in Uzbekistan.

Bukhara

Two separate private en-suite rooms at Parviz Guesthouse, which was a roughly ten-fifteen minute walk from all of the main attractions, with breakfast included, for three nights – USD$93 (USD$15.50 per person per night). This place was an absolute bargain, really comfortable and the breakfast was great too!

A variety of evening meals, including some Western food (pizza) and local dishes across the three evenings. We never spent more than USD$15 (USD$7.50 per person) each evening.

Entry to some of Bukhara’s main attractions:

• Climb the stairs in Chor Minor: USD$0.42 per person.
• Visit The Ark: USD$1.60 per person.
• Soak up the atmosphere of Kalyan Mosque: free.
• Explore Ulugbek Madrassa: free.

Kyzylkum Desert Tour

We did a one night tour into the Kyzylkum Desert while in Uzbekistan. It had an itinerary almost identical to this tour by Advantour. Unfortunately, I’m not able to find the company that we used and I wonder if perhaps they’re no longer running tours. However, we used Advantour to book our train tickets from Tashkent to Khiva and they were professional and helpful. I would expect a tour run by them to be a great experience and based on my limited involvement with them, I would recommend them as an operator should you wish to take a tour out into places beyond the main cities.

Our tour was a little cheaper than the Advantour equivalent – USD$170 per person. The price included lunch and dinner on the first day and breakfast and lunch on the second day, plus our private car and driver, a short 20-minute camel ride and a night in a yurt. Our driver picked us up in Bukhara and took us to Samarkand on the second day, eliminating the need to take a train between the two cities.

On top of this basic cost, we also tipped our driver Bomyod and tipped some of the people at the yurt camp as well. Be prepared. Have some cash with you for tipping. It seemed expected by the people we met and interacted with on this tour. We probably tipped around USD$40-50 altogether.

Samarkand

The initial accommodation we booked in Samarkand was our most expensive. One shared room at a guesthouse, quite far from the city centre, with breakfast included, for three nights – USD$170 (USD$28.35 per person per night).
However, after the fire at this guesthouse, we were lucky enough to get a last minute booking at Antica B&B, listed in guidebooks as the best place to stay in Samarkand. We paid therefore only paid USD$25 to our host at the original guesthouse for our breakfast before we departed to Antica B&B.

A shared en-suite room at Antica B&B, much closer to all of the main attractions, with breakfast included, for two nights – USD$136 (USD$34 per person per night). Antica B&B was more expensive than other places we had stayed. However, we were a little fraught after our experience in the fire and this was a welcome retreat so we didn’t mind the slightly higher costs. The breakfasts were the very best we had on the entire trip!

A variety of meals and snacks, including some Western food (pizza) and local dishes across the two days. We never spent more than USD$20-25 (USD$10-12.50 per person) each day on food. The cheapest meal we ate in Uzbekistan was bought in Samarkand, at this restaurant. An evening meal of two mains, one side salad, bread, one beer and one soft drink amounted to the grand total of… only USD$6.50 for two people. We could barely believe our eyes when the waiter gave us our bill! Great food and truly excellent value for money.

Entry to some of Samarkand’s attractions:

• Marvel at the Registan: USD$3.15 per person. You can pay extra for an audio guide – I wouldn’t recommend this.
• Wander Shah-i-Zinda (highly recommended): USD$1.05 per person.
• Visit the mausoleum of Amir Timur: USD$2.30 per person.
• Explore the Bibi-Khanym Mosque: USD$2 per person.
• Discover Ulugbek’s Observatory: USD$2.30 per person.

Shopping for Souvenirs

Samarkand was our last stop. We had plenty of Uzbek currency left to spend. As such, we did most of our souvenir shopping in Samarkand. Items that we bought included clothing, ceramics, paintings and jewellery. It is expected that you should barter for your souvenirs in Uzbekistan, although I am never comfortable doing this. I’m usually happy to pay the price that shop keepers initially give me, but when I accepted the first price in one shop, the man did seem a little confused and put out, although he accepted my money.

Mum was very good at bartering and getting the prices down. We were careful to keep a fair price, ensuring that the shop keepers got the money they deserved. We never pushed so hard that we felt we were ripping them off, paying anything from USD$1 for a fridge magnet to USD$5 for a small vase to USD$40 for some clothing. Pay what you believe to be the fairest price. Keep in mind that while bartering is expected and you shouldn’t haggle over the odd couple of pounds or dollars that you can probably afford anyway. Don’t be tight.

Other expenses outside our budget

As I mentioned before, our flights were paid for outside our £1,000 budget. We paid £858 (USD$1,116) altogether for our flights (£429 each or USD$558) with the Russian airline Aeroflot. Our trip went via Moscow where we had about an hour layover each way before our connecting flights.

Other expenses included travel insurance (I always use Compare the Market to get the best price) and buying a few items required for the trip such as a new filter for my water bottle and toiletries.

Everything else you should know when budgeting for Uzbekistan

First up, it’s important to know that Uzbekistan is a largely cash society. Most restaurants, cafes and shops and all the tourist attractions do not accept card. Even guesthouses and hotels (unless they’re large, international chains) are unlikely to offer card payment facilities.

As such, you need to ensure you take your spending money in cash with you to Uzbekistan to exchange once you arrive there. We exchanged our money into US Dollars at the Post Office. It’s important to ensure that you get new bank notes and no older or damaged notes, as these will not be accepted at currency exchanges in Uzbekistan when you try to change them for Uzbek som.

The guidebooks I read were outdated when it came to ATM availability. All the cities we visited, including Khiva, had ATMs. Most only accepted Visa cards, so be sure to bring Visa as well as Mastercard if you can. If you are looking for an ATM that accepts Mastercard, Asaka Bank is a good bet. We were repeatedly sent to Asaka Bank when our old US Dollar bank notes were rejected at currency exchanges and we consequently ran out of money and needed to withdraw some on my credit card.

Finally, the largest note currently available in Uzbek som is 50,000S. That’s the equivalent of approximately USD$6. As such, be prepared to carry large wads of cash around with you, since you’ll be paying for almost everything in hard currency. I carried most of my cash in an over-the-shoulder bag close to my body and left stashes in other parts of my luggage for safe keeping. Try to be discreet about the amount of money you’re carrying where possible.