Bukhara

Bukhara is the middle child of uzbekistan's whs cities. Less monumental and lively than Samarkand, but more so than khiva. Less cohesive than khiva, but more so than Samarkand.

It is by far also the most diverse of them too. While khiva and Samarkand almost exclusively shine through a particular period (19th century and 15th century respectively) Bukhara has a bit of everything. It has brilliant pre-timurid architecture (samanid Mausoleum), timurid masterpieces (Ulugh begh madrasa) and later additions up to the 20th century (arq). 

However out of the three cities I'm actually tempted to rank it last and that probably has to do with how touristic it felt. I think the high speed train has multiplied the number of people that go to the city in recent years. It was overcrowded and honestly overpriced.

The kunya arq was also a bit of a disappointment especially in retrospective when compared to the palaces in khiva. 

The main pool has lost much of its charm, now infested with comically kitsch decor.

The madrasas are beautiful but surprisingly repetitive

On the bright side the kalyon mosque (phto) is perhaps the most impressive mosque in uzbekistan and the minarete is amazing.

Overall Bukhara left me mildly disappointed though with its splendid array it definetely deserves a place in the list. 

In the trifecta of great Uzbek Islamic silk road cities (Xiva, Bukhara, Samarkand), I think there are arguments for either city being the greatest. Samarkand is the biggest city and has the largest sites, but the historic sites are dispersed across a modern city. Xiva has a real old town, enclosed by historic walls, but doesn't have the one stellar site to shine. Bukhara's appeal is that it still has a charming old town feeling (but way less than Xiva) and undoubtedly plenty of stellar sites, most notably the square around Kalon minaret.

In the fall of 2022, I spent two nights in Bukhara and visited the old town on foot. The furthest west I got was the Talipach Gate. There were so many madrassahs, mosques, and mausoleums that it's hard to name one. Just take your time and wander the city open minded.

Getting There

When travelling in Uzbekistan, you can either visit Bukhara from the East (Xiva) or the West (Samarkand, Tashkent). Last option is to come from Turkmenistan (South), but as I understand it, border crossings are scarce and tourist entry and travel are highly restricted in Turkmenistan.

In Uzbekistan, there are trains and busses running between Xiva, Urgench, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. However, the distances are great and the normal trains slow. Between Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent there also bullet trains, but... these fill up quickly. And at least in Bukhara, the bullet train station is far away from the town centre, …

I visited this WHS in June 2017 and spent 4 nights here. Like Samarkand, to me it is one of the top WHS on the list and certainly Uzbekistan most lively WHS. Unlike Samarkand, the medieval atmosphere is still alive and if you wake up just after sunrise and wander through the residential areas or market area you will notice that not much has changed. I really enjoyed watching the local children meet up just after sunset in front of the active Miri Arab Madrasah (photo) to play football beneath the Kalyan minaret.

The restoration works were much better than Samarkand and much of the historic centre has been preserved (not only single sites or monuments). In Samarkand, I wasn't able to find one single mention of UNESCO anywhere. Here every inscribed building (as well as those on the tentative list!) have a plaque and then there is a bronze plaque with the inscription certificate engraved just in front of the Hoja Nasruddin statue.

During one of the days I visited, on the last day of Ramadan, many Muslims came from all over the province for the community Iftar, the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. The Kalyan mosque was full of people eating and celebrating during that evening but apart from that time, in Summer locals seem only to go out early in the morning to buy local produce at the market and after sunset.

Another highlight during my visit were the local hammams …

Located in the middle of Kyzyl-Kum Desert, Bukhara, a historic city on the great ancient Silk Road, is liked a mirage from the Arabian nights fairy tales with many outstanding monuments that easily take your breath away. Seeing monuments of Bukhara is quite straightforward as all important sights are located in single tourist routes from the amazing brick mausoleum of Ismail Samani to great Kalon Minaret complex with inspired Kalon Mosque and end at the photogenic four towers of Char Minar.

Other monuments are also worth mentioned, the wooden carving columns of Bolo-Hauz Mosque near the Ark Fortress are just gorgeous, the newly restored façade of Abdul Aziz Khan Medressa is so unbelievably colorful that you may think that you are in India’s Rajasthan and truly one of my favorite, and the relaxing area of recently renovated Lyabi-Hauz with the nearby beautiful mosaic of Nadir Divanbegi Medressa. The well-preserved bazaar buildings are exceptional with the sophisticated roof. However, similar to other places in Uzbekistan, almost all Bukhara’s religious monuments had been turned to souvenir complexes and restaurants which sometime really destroyed the atmosphere of the place.

As mentioned, the Lyabi-Hauz area had been renovated as well as many areas in the old city, those areas are very clean and so well organized liked the museum city of Khiva, which totally contrast to un-renovated of Bukhara. In my opinion, Bukhara has potential to become second Khiva, which I don’t think a good example as the city will …

Undoubtedly my most powerful memory of Bukhara is sitting at the square, gazing at the Kalan minaret. It is so perfectly shaped. The adjoining mosque is another masterpiece. The same can be said of the little Ismail Samani mausoleum, dating from the 9th-10th century, and the four turrets of the Chor Minar.

Bukhara is a great destination: compared to the other Uzbek sites it is more lively than Samarkand and less museum-like than Khiva. It has a lot on offer from different periods and merits a visit of at least 3 days. In the evenings you can relax, eat and drink on one of the terraces around the Lab-i Hauz pond. This area especially has become touristy, as have the bazaars. Although Uzbekistan cannot be considered a major tourist destination, enough of them come here to provide a living for the many restaurants, hotels and souvenir sellers in town.

Part of the WHS is also the 16th-century women's hammam. It was my first visit to a hammam ever and a memorable experience. Imagine sweating away in a 500-year-old monument that has been used by many many women in this period. At first, I was still in my "visiting a monument"-mode, just admiring the heated cells covered all over with large dark gray stones. The image then was completed by the arrival of several very fat naked Uzbek women, scrubbing each other or lying on the cold floors pouring buckets of water on themselves. It is rare that one …

We have visited Bukhara twice, once in Soviet days (1983) and again in Oct 2004 – and what a difference! Free enterprise has turned a dour dusty “museum city” into a lively “Persian (or rather “Uzbek”!) Market”.

In Soviet times all tourists stayed at the Intourist run Bukhara Hotel in the new town. We went to visit it for “auld lang syne” and found it now very down market (although even in Soviet days it had become infamous as the seat of a cholera epidemic which attacked western tourists!) and seemingly only used by locals. Its restaurant, where we had waited for so many hours to be served unappetising food by surly waitresses, was closed and empty of tables. The deserted foyer still exuded its tacky Soviet persona with its cheap wood veneers and decorations. The Intourist Souvenir stand which sold little, apart from those Russian dolls which fit inside each other, had a film of dust on it and its glass fronted shelves were even emptier than they used to be. A real “time warp”!

Instead a number of new private hotels have been built or converted from old city buildings but, as yet no “chain hotels”. Restaurants had appeared, catering for a range of levels and tastes (even including an Italian!). The old domed covered markets were full of shops selling carpets, carved woodwork, embroidery, metal-ware, pottery, Astrakhan hats etc etc. One wonders where the craftsmen had been hiding during those long Soviet years –the quality of the …