In Uzbekisthan I have visited some of the historic old towns but khiva is my first and favourite town in Uzbekisthan . It is situated in the north western part of Uzbekisthan near to the turkamenisthan border . It is a desertic land and most of the traditional buildings are made of mud and and waste of rice plant and cow dung . This buildings can be two to threee storied and very comfortable in all weather . The architect and design were very unique .
In this town you can see canals with dirty mud water . Still childrens are jumpiing in those canals and enjoy the water to avoid heat .
How to reach Khiva ?
Train: There is three types of train in Uzbekisthan . Afrosiyab (which is the fastest and can reach upto 250 km , but in my journey from samarkhand to tashkhand it hardly touches the speed 200 km /hr ) , Sharq (this trains are just little slower than the afrosiyab but price is almost half and interior has no difference . I think this is the perfect match for budget and speed ) . In those both train there is two types of sitting only . This two types of trains are fully air conditioned . As in the summer time uzbekisthan is unbearable hot so this trains are most popular . The third types of train is sleeping trains which has Luxery (where in one closed room there is only two seats ) , kupe (here in one closed room there is four seats ) , Platzkartny (open carriage, here no room is given ) . This is the cheapest among the all types of seat . In this sleeper train only in the luxery class there is air condition .
In the sleeping trains in one side there is only two berth and above the upper berth there is luggage storage area and below the lower berth there is luggage storage area . So there is no problem of luggage storage in those types of soviet made trains . They will also give a pack where there is two bed sheet , and one hankerchips . a pillow cover and a blanket cover . when you just enter the coach the coach TT will give you that packet and after the journey was finished they will collect all this .
near to the TT room there is a machine which will provide Hot water . If you want to eat noodles or make tea or coffee you can use that . In platzkartny you will have a feeling of indian trains but it does not have fan also . It is cheap but very uncomfortable in the summer time . My ticket cost from tashkent to khiva only 230000 som (18 USD) for 1000 km .
Airport : Nearest Airport to the Khiva city is in the Urgench city . which is 40 km from the khiva .
Bus : Mostly from urgench there is bus to any city of Uzbekisthan . But from khiva you may get bus toward bigger cities but this are very infrequent . from Khiva to urgench you can go by trolley bus or Mashrutka . Mashrutka cost 6000 som . but trolly bus may be cheaper but little slow .
only train can reach directly to khiva from the capital tashkent or other main city like samarkhand and Bukhara . The train station is just 1.25 km from the ichon kela . You can book the trains from the eticket.railway.uz or through the app Uzrailway tickets .
You can either go to the station and book the ticket and pay by cash . they will ask your passport when booking the rail ticket . You can also book the ticket from the hotel paying by the credit or debit card . I would suggest book from home as you can choose your seat from the app or website . For most of the routes train tickets are absolutely available for 7 days . I mostly booked tickets 2-3 days before or on that day .
In Khiva in summer time it is unberable hot . You can see most of the people don’t come outside after 11 until 4 pm . So they made the building with mud and mixture dried paddy grass. This will cool down their homes cooler . Uzbekisthan is a poor country and most of the house don’t have air condition . Sometimes they painted their house white to reflect the sun light .
Warning : People of this city is very welcoming and hospitable . But don’t travel alone two hours after the sunset . There was lots of drunk people in the city . They can make problem to you . So be aware of the drunk people .
Itchan qala :
Itchan Qala is the walled city of Khiva . One of the magnificent structure i see in this parts of the city is the mud brick wall. There was all togeather 52 monuments and some 250 old houses inside the qala . There is four gates in the four sides of the qala . It was build between the 18 th and 19 th century .
In the morning when the first sunlight comes , at that moment the walls of the fort looks amazing . The walls of the fort is 8-10 meter in height and 5-6 meter thick . and after every 30 meter there is a watch tower which were used in the old days by the soilders to look around the outside and watch who are entering in the walled city . Now a days most of the suvenior shops are situated inside the walled city and some of the old houses are converted into Hotels .
This Itchan qala is opened all the time and there was no ticket even for the tourist to enter the qala . Most of the old monuments and buildings are situated inside this .
Katla Minor :
katla Minor is the most beautiful tower inside the ichon qala . It is covered with colorful mozaic tiles . It is 26 meter in height and the khan made it in the compedition with kalon tower of bukhara .
It is a unfinished tower and the architect fled khiva in the fear that he could be executed after the completion of this tower . Actually the khan of amir want to build a tower such a high that he can see 400 km distant bukhara from it . But the construction stopped after the death of amir in 1855
Medressa Muhanmed amin khan :
Medressa Muhanmed amin khan was build in the 19 th century by the ruler amin khan . This was situated near to the western gate of the ichon qala near to the Katla minar . This is the biggest and most tiled medressa in Khiva but now a days there is a ticket to enter the medressa so I avoid to enter the medressa .
Juma Mosque :
Juma mosque is the oldest mosque inside this itchan qala . Originally it was build in the 10 th century . Later it was rebild in the 18 th century .
This flat mosque is supported by the 212 wooden coloumn . in every coloumn there is beautiful wooden work and massage written in the arabic caligraphy . The roof of this mosque is made of wood .
The beautiful Islam khoja minerate is situated just beside this mosque .
Kuhya ark palace :
It is a 17 th century citadel made by the khan rulers in netween 17th to 19 th century .
There is a throne which shows the oppulance of the king . This building is also famous for the administrative centre , coin minting area , court , khan’s museum and residential palace .
The walls are full of iranian’s colorful tiles and there is some beautiful wooden pillars with beautful art works on them . Specially if you look at the roof the art works on the wood is really impressive
The museum situated in the different rooms tells the history and the life style of this city . This city was once famous for the slave trade , you can read the history of the slave trade in this museum . Another interesting fact is that how the coins were minted in this factory . There is a model which shows how the coins were minted in older days . In this museum you can see the silk currency which is unique I have seen here .
Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum :
This tomb is the final resting place of 13 th century poet , philosopher , wrestler and saint . He donated lots of his money to the poor people in this area . People admire him as a saint and believe that he have some healing power . The dome of this mausoleum is the biggest in khiva .
Inside the building there is wonderfull iranian tiles covered the building .
Tranning workshop for traditional carpet weaving(Silk Museum) :
Inside the itchan qala there is a workshop and tranning centre for how to make carpets and silk cloths . It was actually inside the medressa of yoqubboy Khaja , established in the year 1878 . Now this medressa has been coverted into silk museum of Khiva .
The owner is very happy and polite man . He showed me How the whole process is done from the silk worm to colouring with different herbal color then weaving to make carpets and dresses . You should not miss this place . This is a unique place and it is completely free of cost .
Double hump camel ride :
Inside the middle of the itchan qala near to the juma mosque there is some restaurant there are some double hump camels . I reached there is summer so they shaved the camel but in winter time their full body was covered with wools .
You can made a camel ride inside the fort . It will be a amazing unique things to do inside the fort .
Tash khauli palace :
This palace have been build in the the 19 th century by the khiva ruler alla khuli khan as their private palace and harem .
It is actually a stone palace and there is beautiful mozaic works in the wall .
Lots of europeans and local rulers meet for different purpose in this palace .
Suvenior shops :
There were lots of suvenior shops inside the itchon . they most probabely opened after 10 am in the morning . You can see lots of people sells traditional garments ceramic dishes and some painting , toys . But the most unique thing they sell is the cap made of wools . This is for the Uzbek people in the winter .
From here I buy two things one the woolen cap and another is some finished and unfinished caps . From this market a unique types of flute . Where if you put little water and flow the wind it will makes sound like bird and another thing is that a double hump camel made of cloths and cotton may be for the filling inside .
Dichon qala :
This is the outer city around the itchon qala . Khiva is a oasis between two large desert . The city is not much bigger and mostly all the city can be walkable . In this part there are residential building , hotel and Restaurant .
Miscellinous :
There is numerious sites nside the ichon qala and outskirt of the khiva city . Inside of the itchon qala there is places like Kutli inak murad medressa , khan anush mohammad’s bath , UC avlija Mausoleum , khan allakuli medressa , mohammed Rakhim khan medressa , shirgiz khan medressa , bogbonli medressa , AK mosque and seid allaudin mausoleum .
In the outskirt of the city there is some important places to visit like Ayaz Kala , Toprak kala and koj kyrlgan kala . This qala were build much older than khiva and build in between 1st to 7 th century AD . This are in beween 100 km from the khiva city and you might have to book special cab for this journey .
Summary :
Khiva is a UNESCO World heritage site and old oasis settlement in the western Uzbekisthan near to the Turkamenisthan . Train is the best option to come to Khiva city . Near by big city is Urgench . The old walled city is called the Itchon qala and the outside of the walled city is called the dichon qala . There is lots of old mosque , medressa , minerates and palaces inside the city .
