Bazaar · Shaykhantahur District
Chorsu Bazaar
The Old City market under a blue dome
Itineraries · Food
A food lover's tour: Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in 6 days
Plov, tandoor bread, samsa and kebabs, bazaars and a family table — discovering Uzbekistan through its flavours.
Best time to go
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6 days
Day by day
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Day 1
Chorsu Bazaar: tandoor bread and samsa, kurt, kazy horse sausage, spices and dried fruit. Lunch is plov straight from the cauldron at one of Tashkent's famous plov centres.
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Day 2
A cooking class in plov or manti; green tea in a chaikhana and, in the evening, national dishes — lagman, shashlik and naryn.
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Day 3
Afrosiyob to Samarkand. Siab Bazaar for Samarkand bread, halva, parvarda sweets, nuts and dried fruit; Samarkand-style plov for dinner.
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Day 4
Watch Samarkand bread being baked in a tandoor at an old-town bakery, then a tasting at the Khovrenko winery museum. Evening train to Bukhara.
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Day 5
To Gijduvan for its famous kebabs and a potter's workshop; back in Bukhara, spiced tea and sweets by Lyab-i Hauz in the evening.
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Day 6
Bukhara's farmers' market and trading domes for navvot crystal sugar, halva and spices; Bukhara-style plov at a family table. Afrosiyob or flight back to Tashkent.
About the route
Uzbek cooking changes from city to city: Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara each make plov their own way, and every region bakes its own style of bread. Palov culture and tradition was added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list in 2016.
The itinerary combines bazaars, bakeries and teahouses with cooking classes and a family dinner. If you have time, head to Khorezm for green dill noodles (shivit oshi) and tukhum barak dumplings.
Getting around
Tashkent–Samarkand–Bukhara by train. Gijduvan is about an hour from Bukhara by taxi or car with driver.
Tips
Plov is a lunchtime dish — get to the plov centres before noon. Bazaars are liveliest in the morning.
Book cooking classes and family dinners in advance through your hotel or tour operator, and go easy on rich food for the first few days.
A food lover's tour: Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in 6 days
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