Aug. 2025
Khiva, in western Uzbekistan, is a perfectly preserved Silk Road city that feels like a step back in time. Its old walled town, called Itchan Kala, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site packed with mosques, madrasas, minarets, and caravanserais. The city is famous for the turquoise-tiled Kalta Minor Minaret, the Kunya-Ark fortress, and the grand Islam Khoja Minaret. Unlike bigger cities like Samarkand or Bukhara, Khiva has a more compact, quiet charm—ideal for wandering its narrow streets and soaking up the medieval atmosphere. Khiva’s compact streets make it easy to explore on foot, offering a real taste of Silk Road history.
Highlights:
- Itchan Kala – the walled old town and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Kalta Minor Minaret – famous for its stunning turquoise tiles.
- Kunya-Ark Fortress – the old citadel of Khiva’s rulers.
- Islam Khoja Minaret & Mosque – the tallest tower in the city.
- Juma Mosque – known for its forest of carved wooden columns.
- Tash Hauli Palace – a beautifully decorated royal residence.
- Madrasas of Khiva – historic Islamic schools with intricate tilework.
Khiva was the farthest city that we had visited in Uzbekistan. I even thought about skipping it, but I am glad that I did not. The train ride from Bukhara to Khiva was the most uncomfortable one, but the overnight train ride from Khiva back to Taskent was the most comfortable one.
For the ride from Bukhara to Khiva, it seems that we have bought “Platzkart / Third Class (Economy) seats” by accident. Actually, there were no “seats”, only 3-bunk beds. Worst of all, our beds were along the hallway, with zero privacy. At first, we all seated on the lowest bunk, gradually getting sleepy, I asked somebody help me to move my heavy backpacks to the highest bunk, so I could lie down on the middle bunk to take a nap. Clean bed linings were given on every bed (if you cannot find yours, you could ask the employees for them, but we had to put on and get off the linings by ourselves. It seems to be a common culture. When the train was above to arrive, everybody take off their own bed lining, and hand them to the employees.
Our third class carriage had no private compartments, and full of local people except for us, but they all seem very friendly and curious at us.
For the ride from Khiva to Taskent, since there was only one overnight train per day, we booked online in advance, and secured the “Kupe / Second Class” seats. Although it was only Second Class, we already totally satified. There were 4 beds in each A/C Compartment. We occupied 3 of them, so at the middle of the night, a man came in to get on the only leftover bed. He was quiet and slept till morning. Because it was private and A/C compartment, we could finally had a good night of sleep.
Back to Khiva, I had some bitter-sweet experience there. Because of some urgency issues and poor wifi in our second-floor room of our hotel (Euro Asia Khiva in Ichan Qala Hotel), I spent long afternoon and late night working at the lobby table. There was always a 17-year-old boy working at the front desk, either playing with his phone or lying on the sofa. It was probably family business. At night, an elder man would be staying up at the front desk to watch me work. In Uzbekistan, I saw many teenagers working at either bazaars, restaurants or hotel front desks. Perhaps because only young people know English, the elders mostly could only speak in Uzbek or Russian.
In Khiva, the scenery somehow look more different from other cities. There were many vendors on the streets selling scarfs, clothing, carpets, wooden sculptures and fur hats. Also, colorful wool and silk carpets were hanging everywhere, waiting for their buyers. I love their handmade carpets very much, but too expensive to bring them home.
Here we reserved the top floors of restaurant at dusk, so that we could enjoy the sunset while enjoying our dinner.
We also booked the three fortresses tour from Khiva. They were located a few hour drive from Khiva city, where there were shallow desert and sand everywhere. All three fortresses look somewhat different, but also somewhat similar. They blend perfectly with the nature and felt a bit lonely, make you wonder what they used to look like. It was totally different from the gorgeous and celebrated mosques.
