Bukhara Old Town Guided Walking Tour with 16 Stops

Lyabi-Hauz and the Old Caravan Quarter

Lyabi-Hauz is the heart of old Bukhara: a stone-edged pool built in the early seventeenth century, shaded by ancient mulberry trees and framed by a madrasah, a khanaka for Sufi gatherings and the Kukeldash Madrasah, one of the largest in Central Asia. For centuries pools like this supplied the city with water, and today it is where locals and visitors meet in the evening.

From here your guide leads you to the Sayfuddin caravanserai, a compact inn where merchants once stayed with their goods, and on into the trading streets. Bukhara is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, and its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A Bukhara walking tour is the best way to see it, because almost everything lies within a short stroll.

The Trading Domes and Magoki-Attori Mosque

The covered bazaars of Bukhara, built mostly in the sixteenth century, sit at busy crossroads of the old town. Toki Sarrafon was the dome of the money changers, Toki Telpakfurushon the largest, where hats and skullcaps were sold, and Toki Zargaron the dome of the jewellers. Nearby, the Abdullakhan Tim was an elegant domed hall built for the silk trade.

Between them lies the Magoki-Attori Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Central Asia, with a richly carved twelfth-century facade that sits below today's street level because the city has grown up around it over the centuries. It now houses a carpet museum. The domes are still full of craft shops selling embroidered suzani, ceramics and knives, and your guide explains the old trades of each one.

Kalyan Minaret, Kalyan Mosque and the Madrasahs

The Kalyan Minaret, built in 1127, rises about 46 metres above the old town and is the symbol of Bukhara. Its tapering brick tower is decorated with bands of intricate patterned brickwork, and it was so admired that it survived when much of the city was destroyed in the thirteenth century. Beside it stands the Kalyan Mosque, a vast Friday mosque with room for thousands of worshippers.

Facing the mosque across the square is the Mir-i-Arab Madrasah, an active Islamic school with turquoise domes, built in the sixteenth century. On the way you also see the Ulugbek Madrasah, built in 1417 by the astronomer-ruler Ulugbek and among the oldest in Central Asia, and the colourful Abdulazizkhan Madrasah opposite. Is Bukhara worth visiting? This square alone answers the question.

The Ark, Bolo-Hauz and the Ismail Samani Mausoleum

The Ark is the massive fortress where Bukhara's rulers lived for many centuries. Its sloping walls rise above the open square of the Registan, and today it houses museums. On this tour you see the Ark from the outside, as visiting its museum sections would add one to one and a half hours. Opposite stands the Bolo-Hauz Mosque, built in 1712, with tall carved wooden pillars reflected in its pool.

The walk ends in a green park with the Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum, linked to a legend of the Prophet Job and a spring, and the Ismail Samani Mausoleum, a small tenth-century tomb whose baked bricks are laid in patterns like woven basketwork. It is one of the masterpieces of early Islamic architecture. The best time to visit Bukhara is April to May and September to October.