Bukhara to Khiva: train times, fares and the desert road

Fast train, electric train, night train or car

Take the Manguberdi if your date has seats: you leave Bukhara at 11:14 and have the afternoon in Ichan-Kala. Train 706 suits a last morning in Bukhara and an evening arrival. The night trains are the fallback, with berths on 79 of 81 departures up to 28 November. A private car is the door-to-door option, and the only one that can stop at the desert fortresses on the way.

Fares below are per person; a car is priced per vehicle. Going the other way, the 07:10 Manguberdi from Khiva reaches Bukhara at 10:38, early enough for a full afternoon in the old town, and the 707 leaves Khiva at 09:55 and arrives at 14:32.

Every train between Bukhara-1 and Khiva

All trains use Bukhara-1 (Buxoro-1) in Kogon and Khiva (Xiva) station, and all stop at Urgench on the way. The day in the table is the day the train leaves Bukhara-1 or Khiva, not the day it left Tashkent: the 05:32 on a Wednesday set off from Tashkent at 21:45 on Tuesday.

The Manguberdi and trains 706/707 are seated day trains; the night trains carry berths only. The 706 and 707 are CRRC electric trains of five cars with 415 economy seats, running since 9 September 2026.

Check the weekday before you fix dates. From Bukhara, Monday has only the Manguberdi and Friday only the Manguberdi and the 706; Sunday has no Manguberdi but the 706 and both night trains. From Khiva, Monday has only the 707, and Friday only the 751 and the 707.

Fares from 157,100 som

Fares are the same in both directions. Each Manguberdi departure sells economy plus one other class: VIP on the trainset that leaves Bukhara for Khiva on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and Khiva for Bukhara on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, business on the other days. The 706 and 707 sell one class. Children's fares appear in the booking form.

Seats: the fast train fills, the night trains had berths

Sales open at least 60 days before a train leaves its first station, at 10:00 local time (UTC+5). Search by the date you board at Bukhara-1.

The Manguberdi cut-off at 16 October and the 706/707 cut-off at 30 September were already there on 24 September, so no new seats appeared in three days. If your date shows none, search again after 10:00 on the following days and hold a night-train berth as a fallback. Cancelling more than 24 hours before departure costs 15,000 som per seat; within 24 hours the railway also keeps half of the seat part of the fare, and within 6 hours all of it.

Bukhara-1 is in Kogon: leave an hour before your train

Bukhara-1 stands in the town of Kogon, 13.4 km by road from Lyabi-Hauz, about 20 minutes by car. Yandex Go works in Bukhara. Its Start tariff charges a 3,700 som minimum for the first km and 3 minutes, then up to 900 som per km and 270 som per minute in town and up to 1,750 som per km outside it, before surge pricing. That puts the ride at roughly 19,000–30,000 som.

The operator advises showing your ticket and passport at the station checkpoint at least 30 minutes before departure. So leave the old town about an hour before your train.

Two nights in Khiva give one full day in the city whichever train you take; the Manguberdi adds an arrival afternoon, and a third night makes room for the fortresses. The itineraries show how Khiva fits a 7-, 10- or 14-day trip.

Get off at Khiva, not Urgench

Every train on this line ends at Khiva station and stops at Urgench 20–30 minutes earlier. Stay on. Urgench is a separate city, 41 km by road from Ichan-Kala. On the Manguberdi a ticket to Khiva costs 26,000 som more than one to Urgench (332,000 against 306,000 som in economy); on the 706 and the night trains the fare is the same.

Khiva station opened in 2018, with an avenue running from it towards the old town. The east gate, Palvan Darvoza, is 1.2 km away in a straight line and 2.6 km by road; with luggage, take a car or ask your hotel for a pickup. Yandex Go has covered Urgench and Khiva since June 2024, and the app shows the fare before you order. More on the city: Khiva in one or two days.

By car: 457 km across the Kyzylkum

The drive from Lyabi-Hauz to Khiva's east gate is 457 km. OpenStreetMap routing gives 5 h 40 min at the wheel without stops: 365 km on the A380 Guzar–Nukus highway through the Kyzylkum desert, then Urgench and the last 34 km on the new Urgench–Khiva toll motorway.

That motorway opened on 4 September 2026: 35 km, four lanes, a 130 km/h limit and a toll of 26,400 som per car, charged electronically without stopping. It cut the Urgench–Khiva drive from 45–50 minutes to 15–17.

No fare is published for the whole road. A private car is priced per vehicle, not per seat; ask for one written price that names the pickup, the stops and any waiting time. The car we arrange for this road is listed below.

Ayaz-Kala and Toprak-Kala, two of the ancient Khorezm fortresses, stand near this road in the Ellikqala district of Karakalpakstan. Taking in both adds about 115 km and 2 h 40 min of driving (571 km in all), plus 1¾–2½ hours on site by our planning allowance. We suggest a separate day from Khiva instead: see the desert fortresses.

Booking: search by station, then save the e-ticket

Book on eticket.uzrailpass.uz, the railway's own site; the old address eticket.railway.uz redirects there. The full walk-through, with account set-up and refunds, is in Afrosiyob and tickets.

1. 1

   Search the stations, not a train name

   Choose Bukhara and Khiva and the date you board. The Manguberdi, the 706 and the night trains appear together; no Afrosiyob runs to Khiva.

2. 2

   Pick the seat or berth

   The day trains sell seats; the night trains sell open berths, compartments and, on the 056, two-berth SV. The number of free places shows next to each class.

3. 3

   Pay within 10 minutes

   The site cancels the order after 10 minutes. It lists national cards, Visa, Mastercard, Mir, UnionPay, Google Pay and Apple Pay.

4. 4

   Save the e-ticket

   Download it with its 14-digit number and carry the passport you booked with.

Watch out

• On 27 September, trains 706 and 707 were on sale only up to 30 September, with no October or November seats released (the same as on 24 September). On Mondays the 707 is the only train from Khiva to Bukhara.
• The Manguberdi does not run from Bukhara on Sundays or from Khiva on Mondays, and seats for dates after 16 October were not on sale on 27 September.
• The night trains leave Bukhara-1 at 05:32 or 06:48: a start from the old town at 04:30–05:45 and a taxi to Kogon in the dark.
• All trains stop at Urgench 20–30 minutes before Khiva. Stay on: Urgench station is 41 km from Ichan-Kala.
• Services get cut back: from 31 July to 10 August 2026 the Manguberdi ran only to Urgench, with a free bus to Khiva, and on 11–16 August the 056 and 125 also ended there.
• By car, both fortresses stretch the drive to 571 km and about 8 h 20 min at the wheel, before 1¾–2½ hours on site.

Common questions