Where to stay in Uzbekistan

Where to stay in the old cities

• Bukhara and Khiva are best experienced from inside the old town, in a converted merchant's house around a courtyard. These are family businesses, they are cheap, and breakfast on the terrace is the memory people come home with.
• Samarkand's monuments are spread out and the modern city between them is not charming, so pick a place within walking distance of the Registan.
• Tashkent is a large Soviet-planned city. Stay near a metro station and the size stops mattering.
• Nukus, for the Savitsky museum, has a handful of hotels and no reason to be fussy.

Registration, again

• Any licensed hotel or guesthouse registers you and gives you a slip. Collect them all and keep them until you fly out.
• A private flat booked through a short-let site may not register you. Ask before booking, and if the host cannot, register yourself through Emehmon.
• Nights on a sleeper train count as registered if you keep the ticket, and nights camping need Emehmon.

Seasons and booking

• April to early June and September to early November are the seasons. Everything is booked in those months, prices rise, and the best courtyard guesthouses go first.
• July and August are extremely hot - well over 40 degrees in the desert cities - and correspondingly cheap and empty.
• Winter is cold, clear and beautiful, with snow on the tiles and very few visitors. Heating in older buildings is a lottery.
• Navruz, on 21 March, fills everything.

Standards and what to check

• Hot water and heating are the two things worth asking about in older guesthouses.
• Air conditioning is essential in summer and is not universal.
• Breakfast is normally included and is a serious spread of bread, eggs, fruit and pastries.
• Cash on departure is often expected, even where the booking site took a deposit.