Private Uzbekistan trips with driver and guide

Private tour routes: 7, 10 or 14 days, or 12 with Kyrgyzstan

Most private trips start from one of three routes along the railway from Tashkent through Samarkand and Bukhara to Khiva. Seven days cover Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara; ten days add Khiva; fourteen days keep the same four cities at a slower pace, with 3 nights each in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Day 1 is your arrival day. We shift the nights, trains and visits to fit your flight times, and the day-by-day plans are on the itinerary page.

Between cities we plan the train where a departure fits. The Afrosiyob runs Tashkent–Samarkand in 2 h 25 min and Tashkent–Bukhara in 4 h 6 min. The Jaloliddin Manguberdi covers Tashkent–Khiva in 7 h 42 min and leaves Bukhara at 11:14 for Khiva at 14:42, with no Sunday departure; since 9 September 2026, train 706 also runs Bukhara–Khiva, 15:45 to 20:25, daily except Monday. Bukhara's station, Buxoro-1, is in Kogon, outside the old town, so every change of city gets at least half a day. Timetables, classes and fares are on the Afrosiyob and tickets page.

The routes bend to your flights. The 10-day route assumes a flight home from Urgench, the airport for Khiva; flying home from Tashkent instead moves 1 night from Bukhara to a last night in the capital. The 7- and 14-day routes end with a night in Tashkent, so the last intercity journey never falls on the day of your flight. We rework the plan for a late arrival, a start in Samarkand or fewer hotel changes.

• Kyrgyzstan is the one neighbour we arrange, and only as part of an Uzbekistan trip. The 12-day version flies Tashkent–Bishkek in about 1 hour (Bishkek is 1 hour ahead), drives about 260 km, 4–5 hours, to the north shore of Issyk-Kul, then on to Karakol; Karakol back to Bishkek is about 400 km, 6–7 hours. On 24 September 2026, 4 airlines flew Tashkent–Bishkek around 10 times a week, mostly in the evening, so that flight is booked first. A 14-day version adds 2 nights: 1 at Altyn-Arashan in the mountains above Karakol and 1 more in Karakol. Entry rules are in the Kyrgyzstan guide.
• Extensions add or replace days: a yurt night at Aydarkul between Samarkand and Bukhara (2 days, 1 night), a 12-day route with the Nuratau villages, a 13-day route with Nukus and the Aral Sea, or 2–3 days in the Fergana Valley for Kokand, Rishtan and Margilan.
• Kazakhstan and Tajikistan get planning guides (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan). There we arrange only 2 day trips that start and end in Uzbekistan the same day: Tashkent to Shymkent, and Samarkand to Penjikent and Sarazm. Border transfers to the Dostyk (for Osh), Beshariq (for Khujand), Alat and Shavat (for Turkmenistan) crossings end on the Uzbek side; a pickup beyond the border is a separate request.

Private tour or group tour? We run private trips only

A private trip leaves on your dates, follows your pace and works even for 1 traveller. A scheduled group tour follows a calendar and a programme fixed in advance and shared with other participants. Oxusroad arranges private trips only; we run no group departures.

A private trip is built around your flights. We place the nights, trains and visits by your arrival and departure times, and you choose the days with a guide and the free days. It suits a solo traveller, a couple, a family or friends travelling together. For a family, give the children's ages: under-16s pay no tourist tax, and child seats for transfers are requested in advance.

Private does not mean escorted. A private trip can be mostly free days, with a car for the transfers and 1 guided morning per city, or it can have a guide on every sightseeing day: you decide, city by city.

Travelling alone changes the arithmetic. One traveller pays for the whole room and the whole car unless a supplier offers a single rate; 2 or more share those costs, while train seats, entrance tickets and meals stay per person. Over 6 nights, a room that costs 100,000 som more per night adds 300,000 som each for 2 people sharing, or 600,000 som for 1 person alone.

To compare a proposal with a group tour, keep the dates, rooms, trains and visits the same, then put the questions in the right-hand column to the group-tour operator.

Independent or guided: what to book yourself, what to arrange

Trains and walks in the old towns are easy on your own. Car journeys between cities, guides, excursions beyond the cities and tickets on busy dates are worth arranging. You can also keep your own hotels and trains and hand us 1 transfer or 1 guided morning: hiring a guide for a single visit does not require a whole tour.

Uzbek Railways sells tickets on its website and in its Uzrailway Tickets app, and takes Visa and Mastercard cards issued outside Russia. Each passenger's details must match the passport they travel on. Returning a ticket more than 24 hours before departure costs 15,000 som per seat. Tashkent has 2 main stations: the fast trains leave Toshkent Markaziy (Central, also called North), while the night train 056 to Khiva leaves Tashkent South at 21:45, so match the station printed on the ticket before ordering a taxi. The purchase, step by step, is on the Afrosiyob and tickets page; if buying tickets is the only job you want done, ask for ticket help rather than a daily guide.

Beyond the cities, arrange whatever needs a car, a host or a route. In Muynak, the stranded ships and today's Aral shoreline are 2 different trips, so ask for the stops and the overnight on a map before comparing offers called “Aral Sea” (Nukus and the Aral Sea). Rishtan's crafts centre has more than 20 pottery workshops, and a visit becomes a lesson only when a named workshop agrees to host you, with the language, length and price set in advance. For the desert fortresses near Khiva and for Chimgan and Charvak, see their own pages.

• One week, 3 cities, happy to book online: take the 7-day route, book your own hotels and trains, and add 1 guided visit if you want one.
• Two travellers with different interests: share the journeys between cities and book a guide only for the visit you both want.
• A longer trip with crafts or the Aral Sea: keep the 14-day route and arrange the car, the host or the specialist for that segment only.
• One plan and one contact: ask for the whole trip, with hotels, transport, the guided days you choose and a written list of what is included.

What a private trip includes, and what it does not

A trip includes exactly the services written in the proposal you accept. Before anything is booked, we send the plan, the list of what is included and the price; you do not book or pay on this website. In Uzbekistan we arrange private cars with drivers, local guides, train tickets and domestic flights, hotels and guesthouses, day trips, overnight trips, workshops and food experiences. In Kyrgyzstan we arrange Issyk-Kul, Karakol and Altyn-Arashan as part of an Uzbekistan trip.

Our list holds 110 services: 102 that start in 15 Uzbek cities and towns, and 8 that work anywhere in the country. The table sums them up by type, the catalogue further down this page shows them, and each city guide lists its own.

Plans change on the road. If a train is full during the trip, we look for another departure or a car, and the proposal names who coordinates changes and in which hours. Services you booked yourself stay with you: you contact that supplier.

• Not included: luggage forwarding between cities. We found no forwarding service with a clear custody and collection process.
• Not included: a 24-hour emergency line. We reply during business hours in Uzbekistan (UTC+5), and a same-day car or ticket depends on what is free that day. In an emergency, dial 112.
• Not included: a visa decision. We help with the document checklist and the application; the authorities decide.
• Not included: a booking by message alone. Nothing is held until you accept the proposal.
• Not included: services inside Kazakhstan, Tajikistan or Turkmenistan beyond the 2 day trips and 4 border drop-offs, or Kyrgyzstan without an Uzbekistan trip.
• Not promised everywhere: kosher or certified halal meals. Outside the big cities they are arranged case by case.

How much does a private trip to Uzbekistan cost?

Oxusroad publishes no price list: the price comes with your proposal, once the hotels, trains and services are agreed. What this page can show is what the parts cost on the market. The table lists prices recorded in September 2026 from named providers; they are reference points, not quotes and not Oxusroad prices.

For 7 days for 2 people, count 6 hotel nights, 3 train tickets each and up to 8 car journeys to stations and airports, then meals, entrance tickets and city transport. The international flight, insurance, a visa if you need one, shopping and tips sit outside that subtotal. The full worksheet is on the trip-cost page.

The tourist tax is charged per person for each day of accommodation from age 16, and hotels are grouped by room count, not stars: 22,000 som a day with up to 10 rooms, 44,000 som with 11–40 rooms and 66,000 som above 40; in family guesthouses the rate is 8,800 som. Ask if a room price already includes it, so that it is added only once.

No general mark-up or saving has been measured between an arranged trip and the same trip booked alone. Compare like with like: the same dates, rooms, train classes and visits, with each price in its own unit, per person or per group.

• Guide: the hours, the language, the number of travellers, the route and whether admissions are included; how extra time is charged.
• Driver: pickup and drop-off addresses, the vehicle, luggage, stops, waiting time, parking and any overnight cost for the driver.
• Hotels: the room type, breakfast, the tourist tax, and early check-in or late check-out.
• Payment: the currency, the method, the deposit, the date the balance is due and the cancellation terms.
• Your own bookings: list them, so that the same hotel, ticket or transfer is not counted twice.

Which languages do the guides speak?

Guided days are in English or Russian; we do not promise guides in other languages. The written proposal names the guide's language for each guided day, because the person who answers you on WhatsApp is not the person who guides you. The team that plans and books your trip works in English and Russian.

Driving and guiding are separate jobs. In some cities one driver-guide does both; elsewhere a driver brings a separate guide. The proposal says which, and a day booked with a driver alone has no guiding.

Give the guide a subject and a number of hours. Architecture, astronomy, religious history and crafts each make a different walk. At Samarkand's Registan, “explain how the Ulugbek, Sher-Dor and Tilla-Kori madrasas differ” is a brief; “see the Registan” is not. Keep time afterwards to go back alone to whatever caught your eye.

One guide for the whole trip, travelling between cities with you, is a separate service and is written into the proposal as such. Otherwise, local guides meet you in the cities you choose, and transport is booked on its own.

Before a guided day, ask for the guide's name, working language, subject knowledge and a short outline of the visit. Uzbekistan issues qualification certificates to guide-interpreters and excursion leaders through its government services portal, and the Tourism Committee keeps a guide-registry page, which showed a last update of 28 February 2025 when read on 13 September 2026. A certificate, a clear brief and written terms answer different questions: keep all 3.

How to book a private trip in three steps

Everything happens in one WhatsApp conversation, in English or Russian. We reply during business hours in Uzbekistan (UTC+5) and promise no response time; if your trip starts within days, say so in the first message. Nothing is booked or paid on the website, and the contact page drafts the first message for you. If you need a single service, such as a transfer, tickets or a guide for a morning, the same 3 steps apply and the proposal is a few lines long.

The order of bookings follows the scarcest seats. We book the intercity trains first, as soon as sales open for your dates, then fit the hotel nights around the trains that can actually be bought; on a trip with Kyrgyzstan, the Tashkent–Bishkek flight comes first.

Payment terms are agreed in the chat before you pay anything. Cards issued in Russia, including Mir, do not work in Uzbekistan: the Bank of Russia said on 6 March 2022 that Russian-issued Visa and Mastercard cards do not work abroad, and UZCARD suspended Mir from 23 September 2022. With Russian cards, agree another payment method in advance; the options are in Money in Uzbekistan.

1. 1

   Send your dates and your party

   Give the month or the dates, the number of adults and children, your arrival and departure airports, what interests you, the guide language and anything you have already booked.

2. 2

   Receive an itinerary and a price

   We check trains, hotels and guides for your dates, then send the day-by-day plan, what is included and the price. Ask about the payment currency and method, the deposit and the cancellation terms.

3. 3

   Accept, and we book

   Nothing is booked before you agree. Train tickets are issued in each passenger's name against their passport, and boarding needs the ticket and that same passport, so check the names and passport numbers we send before the tickets are bought, and keep the issued tickets yourself. Each booking is written into the same conversation, and we stay reachable there during business hours for the whole trip.

Who arranges your trip: Oxusroad, travel company in Tashkent

Oxusroad is the trading name of NOLBIR SERVICE CO LLC, a travel company registered in Tashkent on 5 January 2023. It holds Uzbekistan travel agency license No. L-4180343648192, issued on 3 November 2026. The company is responsible for every service it arranges and every page on this site; its legal details are in the footer of every page and on the About page.

We also publish free travel guides based on official sources, mostly in Uzbek and Russian, and each shows the date its sources were checked; the method is on How we check. This page shows no traveller reviews.

Common questions