There’s a colour in Uzbekistan that doesn’t really exist anywhere else. The locals call it haftrang — “seven colours” — but mostly what you see is blue. A specific blue. It lives in the tiles of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, and it has lived there, nearly unchanged, since the 14th century.
I went to Uzbekistan in 2019 expecting dust and history. I got both — plus the most visually stunning week of any trip I’ve ever taken. This is the photographer’s guide.
Uzbekistan in 30 seconds
- Country: Uzbekistan, Central Asia, doubly landlocked
- Cities to photograph: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva — the Silk Road triad
- Capital: Tashkent (modern, useful only as a hub)
- Currency: Uzbek som (cash-heavy economy)
- Best season: April–May or September–October. Avoid the 45°C summer.
- Visa: visa-free for most EU citizens (30 days)
Samarkand — the Registan
The Registan is the single most photogenic public square in Central Asia: three Timurid madrasas facing each other, all tiled in the haftrang blues. The trick is light. Mid-morning kills it. Sunset turns the tiles liquid. Blue hour is when they stop being blue and start being something else.
For interior shots, Tilla-Kari madrasa on the right has a gold-leaf ceiling that no photograph fully captures. Wide angle, low ISO, tripod allowed inside.
Bukhara — the city that smells of dust
Smaller, older, lower. Bukhara doesn’t have the postcard moment of the Registan, but it has 140 listed monuments inside a 2 km radius. Walking from the Kalan minaret to the Char Minar through unmarked alleys is the closest thing left to medieval Silk Road urbanism.
Best light: sunrise at the Lyab-i-Hauz pool. Ablutions, tea, old men in caftans. Documentary photography at its purest.
Khiva — the museum-city inside a wall
Itchan Kala, the inner walled city of Khiva, is fully UNESCO-listed and partially restored. Some say overly so. It is also the most photogenic single square kilometre in Asia. Climb the unfinished Kalta Minor minaret at sunset and you can frame the entire walled city in a single shot.
Khiva is also the smallest of the three — you can photograph it in a long day. Sleep there one night to catch sunrise inside the walls without other tourists.
The 8-day route
Days 1–2: Tashkent arrival + bullet train to Samarkand (2 h).
Days 3–4: Samarkand full days. Registan, Bibi-Khanym, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis.
Day 5: Train Samarkand → Bukhara (1 h 30).
Days 6–7: Bukhara. Old town walks. Day trip to the summer palace at Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa.
Day 8: Fly Bukhara → Khiva (or 8 h drive across the Kyzylkum desert if you want the landscape).
Days 9–10: Khiva. Fly out via Urgench → Tashkent.
Practical notes
- Trains: the Afrosiyob bullet train Samarkand–Bukhara–Tashkent is the easiest way to move. Book 1 month ahead.
- Currency: the som is volatile. Carry US dollars in cash to exchange. ATMs work in Tashkent and Samarkand, less reliably elsewhere.
- Food: plov, lagman, shashlik. Vegetarianism is a foreign concept here. Bread is sacred — don’t put it upside down.
- Equipment: tripod for blue hour, wide angle for interiors, 50mm for portraits in the bazaars. Dust protection on the lens.
Original in Spanish: guía de Uzbekistán. The photodump version: Uzbekistan photodump.
