I first developed an interest in visiting Uzbekistan I think over a decade ago after seeing some pictures of its Silk Road historical sights. At that time I decided against visiting as what information I could gather indicated it’s tourism infrastructure was not well developed at that time. I began reconsidering the idea perhaps two years ago. Because the available information indicated that Uzbekistan’s tourism industry had advanced significantly, I finally decided to make the trip.

Most flights from my home to Uzbekistan routed through Europe and the Middle East, but I was not comfortable taking this route given the ongoing conflicts. As a result, I plotted my path to Uzbekistan through Seoul, South Korea.

I had about a day and a half in Seoul on the way to Uzbekistan. I honestly did not put a lot of thought into what I was going to do in Seoul. I was mostly concerned with not missing my flight out due to jetlag. My hotel was centrally located, which led me to visit two of the main historical palaces. They looked very similar to me, except that one was much bigger than the other.

I also visited a folk music museum near the palaces, which was personally interesting to me. On the second day, there was a folk music festival going on in a public square near Insadong. I stopped and watched for a while. I speak no Korean and know effectively nothing about Korean culture, and so could not really understand what was happening, but enjoyed the show nevertheless.

South Korea, or at least Seoul, has tried to make the city accessible for people who do not speak Korean. In many restaurants, there are terminals with English translation where you can place your order and pay. Kiosks in the airport allow you to buy bus tickets. An app called k.ride is designed for foreigners to hail or schedule taxis and pay. All this occurs without ever having to speak to anyone. You can use the Uber app in Seoul, but it hails an official taxi, because unlicensed operation of a taxi is illegal in South Korea. I passed back through Seoul on the way home as well, again with little thought to what I was actually going to do there, and ended up taking a longer-than-expected walk through the Namsan Sky Forest trail and doing a street food tour. The food tour included some favorite dishes I was already familiar with from the United States, some interesting dishes I was not already familiar with, and a few things I could not bring myself to try, such as fish intestines or large cakes of fish eggs.

I did not make an adequate effort to take advantage of my time in Seoul (partly because I was focused on overcoming jetlag) , and left feeling like it was a nice, vibrant city that didn’t have a lot that interested me specifically. But maybe it will be worth returning someday when it is my focus and I will visit Busan and some other cities as well.

I chose to visit Uzbekistan as part of a tour group. In general, multi-day tours are not my preferred way to travel but I chose this option because my research in advance indicated English proficiency in Uzbekistan is very low and wandering alone around a foreign country where I can not communicate at all for 10 days did not seem like a good idea. I did learn some Uzbek prior to the trip, but my use of it was generally limited to pleasantries and one word requests or clarifications.

The tour included stops in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva. Of the four cities, Bukhara was my favorite, as it was scenic and small enough to be walkable. Tashkent was nearly destroyed in a 1966 earthquake, so any historical sights in Tashkent are likely to be reconstructions. Samarkand had the two most outstanding sights (the Registan and Shah-i-Zinda Mausoleum, in my opinion) but the historical sights are scattered throughout what feels like a very modern city. Khiva was also lovely, but the area was experiencing a heatwave during our visit that pushed temperatures to 108 degrees, which limited the amount of time we could spend outside.

A few selected pictures from….

Tashkent

The Islamic Civilization Center, just completed in 2025

A mausolem, can’t remember whose.

Samarkand

The Registan, a bit before sunset

Shah-i-Zinda

Bukhara

Khiva

My trip to Uzbekistan is something that I had considered for years and, once I finally made the decision to go, that I looked forward to a great deal. Was it worth it? Resoundingly, yes! But not without some reservations. My key observations:

Of the five Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan by far has the most historical sights, and they are impressive and beautiful. However, many of them are constructed and decorated in a very similar style. After a few days, I started thinking, “Oh my, yet a another mosque, madrasa, or mausoleum, with a blue or turquoise dome, minarets, and decorated with blue tiles.”

I personally enjoyed Uzbek food. Uzbek breads are the stars of Uzbek cuisine, but the quality and freshness varies widely. The best I had was when our tour guide visited a bakery in Chorsu Market, Tashkent with us and pulled a round bread straight out of the tandoor and we were able to eat it right there. In many restaurants, it was starting to get a little stale by the time it reached us. Some members of the tour felt the meats all tasted the same, but I did not. The Uzbek diet is very heavy on meat. I think it the major cities pursuing a vegetarian diet is possible, but likely to be challenging.

Aside from taste of the food, about half the members of our tour group of 11 had stomach issues. I believe some of this may have been the result of drinking too much alcohol, and one member indicated they had personal food sensitivities. However, I believe it is wise to avoid street food and select your restaurants with a hint of caution.

A few Uzbek dishses:

Aside from the quality of food there were some pretty significant issues with customer service in restaurants and hotels, including overcharges, making your order and waiting 10 to 20 minutes to be told they are out of whatever you ordered (happened in about half to 3/4 of meals), orders lost or forgotten, and lack of responsiveness from some hotel staff. Our tour guide attributed it to tourism being a fairly new focus for Uzbekistan, and workers needing additional training.

Uzbek people are pretty friendly. We were approached a few times by young Uzbeks just wanting to practice their English with us. Street harassment by beggars or people trying to sell something was minimal. The people I spoke to in Uzbek seemed amazed and charmed by my meager efforts. English proficiency was higher than I was led to believe. Most people in hotels and the restaurants we visited spoke more than adequate English. Outside of that, English proficiency is pretty limited. Russian is much more common.

I was in Uzbekistan in June. I knew it would be hot, and decided to go anyway, so I have no complaints. However, the heat wave drove temperatures up well above my expectations, especially in Khiva. The taxi driver who took me to the Tashkent airport to begin my trip home said April is usually a good time to visit. Winters can be brutally cold.

I left Uzbekistan feeling very positive about my decision to go and my experience there. I also felt like I covered enough that a return trip is unlikely, unless it were part of a trip focused on one of the other Central Asian countries (perhaps Kazakhstan or Tajikistan) with a detour to some new parts of Uzbekistan. I don’t think that will become a priority itinerary for me anytime soon.