Had a bit over a week exploring Uzbekistan's major sites: Samarkand - Bukhara - Khiva - Desert Fortresses - Tashkent in November 2025.
It was as expected architecturally stunning. Also, very easy to get around as almost everyone connected to the tourism industry spoke English in addition to the usual Uzbek and Russian. I found the food to be generally very good (if you enjoy meat) and very affordable. Trips using Yandex (Uber equivalent) was also very very cheap albeit with sometimes questionable cars and drivers. But most of the time, just walking around the cities taking in the sites is what makes the place magical. Having read The Great Game before leaving really brought to life all the stories and I highly recommend acquainting yourself with Silk Road history to get the most of it.
Another surprise for me was how most of the spectacular madrassas, mosques, minarets, etc. were heavily restored in the Soviet Era. Still even then, I have to say they did a bang up job. Only downside is it comes with it a "museum" feel and doesn't really feel "lived in" and in many cases we had entire museums and palaces to ourselves as tourist numbers seem to be quite low in November. Weather was perfect though, warm enough to walk comfortably but just chilly enough to keep most people away!
Photos (captions included):
1-6: Samarkand
7-11: Bukhara
12-13: Desert Fortresses outside of Khiva
14-18: Khiva
19-20: Tashkent