Private tour — price per person depends on group size:
| 1 traveler | $55 / person |
| 2 travelers | $38 / person |
| 3 travelers | $30 / person |
| 4 travelers | $25 / person |
Ichan-Kala — the walled inner city of Khiva — is often called an open-air museum, and it earns the name: more than fifty madrasahs, minarets, mosques and palaces stand inside a rectangle of mud-brick walls barely 650 metres across, almost untouched for centuries.
On this private tour your local guide walks you through the highlights at your own pace: the fat, brilliantly tiled Kalta Minor minaret, the Kunya-Ark citadel of the khans, the Juma mosque with its forest of carved wooden columns, the Islam Khoja complex and the tallest minaret in Khiva, and the turquoise-domed Pahlavan Mahmud mausoleum.
Because Ichan-Kala is so compact, a half day covers the essentials and a full day lets you climb a minaret, linger in the palaces and watch the light change on the walls at the end of the afternoon.
We meet at your hotel or at the west gate of Ichan-Kala — the old city is closed to most traffic, so the tour is on foot.
Kalta Minor, the Kunya-Ark citadel, the Juma mosque and the Islam Khoja complex, at a pace that suits you.
The Tash-Hovli palace with its tiled courtyards and the revered Pahlavan Mahmud mausoleum.
On a full day, climb a minaret for the rooftop view and see the walls glow at sunset.
Meet your guide at the western gate and step inside the walls. Ichan-Kala is closed to most traffic, so everything from here is on foot.
Khiva's most photographed landmark: a squat, brilliantly tiled minaret begun in 1851 by Muhammad Amin Khan, meant to be the tallest in Central Asia but left unfinished at his death in 1855 — barely a third of its planned height, and unforgettable for it.
The "old fortress" — the residence of Khiva's khans from the 17th century, with a throne room, harem, mosque, mint and a watchtower that gives the best rooftop view over the whole of Ichan-Kala.
The largest madrasah in Khiva, standing beside Kalta Minor — once a religious school, now a hotel, but still worth stepping into for its scale and courtyard.
A mosque like no other in Uzbekistan: a flat roof held up by more than two hundred carved wooden columns, some over a thousand years old, in a dim, cool hall pierced by shafts of light.
The symbol of Khiva: the tallest minaret in the city, tapering in bands of turquoise and white, with a madrasah beside it that now holds an applied-arts museum. On a full day you can climb the minaret.
The most revered shrine in Khiva, under a turquoise dome — the tomb of Pahlavan Mahmud, a poet, philosopher and legendary wrestler who became the city's patron saint. The tiled interior is among the finest in Uzbekistan.
The "stone courtyard" palace of the khans, a maze of tiled courtyards, carved balconies and a harem — the most lavish interior in the old city.
The tour ends inside Ichan-Kala — stay on to shop, climb a minaret or find lunch, or we walk you back to your hotel. On a full day the pace is slower, with time to see the walls at sunset.
The ancient desert fortresses of Khorezm, a day trip out of Khiva.
Khiva as part of the full Silk Road loop with Samarkand and Bukhara.
