--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Khiva, Uzbekistan | Wimup" description: "Khiva's 10 best things to do inside Itchan Kala: Kalta Minor, the Juma Mosque, Tosh-Hovli and the Islam Khoja climb, with where to eat and how to arrive." url: https://wimup.com/city/khiva type: City guide updated: 2026-10-23 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10 Things To Do in Khiva Khiva, Uzbekistan · Asia · By Wimup Editorial, 14 min read Samarkand and Bukhara are cities with monuments in them. Khiva is the monument. Itchan Kala, the walled inner town, packs more than fifty listed buildings and 250 old houses into a rectangle you can cross in ten minutes, and UNESCO made it Uzbekistan's first World Heritage site in 1990. ## Quick answer Khiva is a walled city you visit as one object. Buy the combined Itchan Kala ticket at a gate, then work west to east: Kalta Minor and the Muhammad Amin Khan madrasa, the Juma Mosque's forest of columns, the tiled harem at Tosh-Hovli, and the Islam Khoja minaret for the climb. Two days is right. One is enough if you skip the desert fortresses. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Apr · May · Sep · Oct - **Ideal length:** 1–2 days - **Budget per day:** $25–60 - **Language:** Uzbek (Khorezm dialect), Russian widely spoken - **Getting around:** On foot inside the walls - **Tourism board:** [↗ Website](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/i/khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## The 10 best things to do in Khiva ### 1. Itchan Kala Walled city · Itchan Kala, Khiva The walled inner town, and the reason to come. More than fifty listed monuments and 250 old houses sit inside a rectangle of mud brick, listed by UNESCO in 1990 as Uzbekistan's first World Heritage site. One combined ticket, sold at the gates, opens most of what is ticketed inside. - **Time:** Full day - **Cost:** Combined ticket about 250,000 som - **Best at:** Early morning - **Tip:** The ticket runs 48 hours, so split it across two days Links: [Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/i/khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 2. Kalta Minor Minaret Landmark · Itchan Kala, by Ata Darvoza, Khiva The stump that became the emblem. Muhammad Amin Khan began it in 1852 and meant it to tower over Central Asia; he was killed in battle in 1855 and it stopped at 29 metres, on a base about 14.5 metres across. Nothing else in the country is glazed turquoise from the ground up. - **Time:** 15 min - **Cost:** Free to see - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** The glaze reads best with the sun behind you, from the Kunya Ark side Links: [Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/kalta-minor-khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 3. Juma Mosque Mosque · Itchan Kala, Khiva A flat-roofed hall with no dome, no portal and no courtyard, held up by 213 wooden columns in seventeen rows. A few were carved in the tenth and eleventh centuries and carried in from older buildings; the mosque around them was rebuilt in 1788. Two roof openings are the only light, so it stays dark and cool. - **Time:** 30 min - **Cost:** Combined ticket - **Best at:** Midday heat - **Tip:** No two columns are carved alike, and the oldest are the flattest ### 4. Islam Khoja Minaret and Madrasa Landmark · Itchan Kala, Khiva Khiva's tallest structure and its last great commission, begun in 1908 for the khan's vizier and completed with its madrasa in 1910. The minaret runs 57 metres in bands of blue, white and green glaze, and 118 steps in the dark reach a platform at 45 metres. The madrasa below holds the applied arts museum. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Separate minaret ticket - **Best at:** An hour before sunset - **Tip:** The stair is narrow and unlit; carry a torch and let people descend first Links: [Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/islam-khoja-minaret-khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 5. Tosh-Hovli Palace Palace · Itchan Kala, Khiva Allakuli Khan's stone house, built between 1830 and 1841 with more than 260 rooms around three courtyards: the harem, the audience court and the court of justice. The tilework here is the finest in the city, and it is the harem's carved columns and painted ceilings that people remember. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Combined ticket - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** The three courtyards connect awkwardly; finish each one before moving on ### 6. Kunya Ark Fortress · Itchan Kala, Khiva The khans' own fortress, walled off inside the walled city and completed in 1688. What survives is mostly nineteenth century: the summer mosque under its blue tiles, the mint, the throne court, and the Akshi-Bobo watchtower that gives the classic view across the rooftops. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Combined ticket, watchtower extra - **Best at:** Sunset - **Tip:** The watchtower queues at golden hour; be on the steps half an hour early Links: [Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/kunya-ark-fortress/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 7. Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum Shrine · Itchan Kala, Khiva The city's shrine, and the one building where Khiva feels lived in rather than curated. Pahlavon Mahmud was a fourteenth-century wrestler, poet and furrier, and is the patron saint of the city. Under the turquoise dome the walls are lined floor to ceiling in white and blue majolica. - **Time:** 20 min - **Cost:** Combined ticket - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** An active pilgrimage site: dress covered and keep back from anyone praying ### 8. Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasa Madrasa · Itchan Kala, by Ata Darvoza, Khiva The largest madrasa in Khiva, finished in 1855 with 125 cells for as many as 260 students, and the building Kalta Minor was raised to stand beside. It works as a hotel now, which means the courtyard is open to anyone who walks in for tea. - **Time:** 20 min - **Cost:** Free to enter the courtyard - **Best at:** Any time - **Tip:** The tiled facade faces Ata Darvoza and takes the morning light ### 9. Allakuli Khan trading complex Market · Palvan Darvoza, Itchan Kala, Khiva Khiva's commercial quarter, built as one project in the 1830s at the east gate: a madrasa, a covered bazaar and a caravanserai that traded north into Russia. The vaulted Tim still runs as a market, so the space works as it was designed to rather than as an exhibit. - **Time:** 30 min - **Cost:** Free to walk through - **Best at:** Late morning - **Tip:** Prices under the arches are for visitors; the stalls outside the gate are not ### 10. Nurullaboy Saroy Palace · Dishan Kala, Khiva The last khans' palace, and the only major monument outside the walls. Built in Dishan Kala in the early 1900s, its reception hall was fitted out in Russian style: parquet, tiled stoves, chandeliers and printed wallpaper, behind a courtyard of Khorezm tilework. This is where Khiva stopped being medieval. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Separate ticket - **Best at:** Afternoon - **Tip:** Ten minutes on foot from the north gate, and far quieter than anything inside ## Best madrasas & minarets in Khiva Six of them, all within a ten-minute walk of each other, and two you can climb or sleep in. 1. **Kalta Minor Minaret** (1852–1855 · Free · Ata Darvoza): Unfinished at 29 metres in 1855, and glazed turquoise the whole way up. Khiva's emblem. 2. **Islam Khoja Minaret** (1908 · Ticketed · Central Itchan Kala): Fifty-seven metres, 118 steps, and the highest view in the city from the platform at 45. 3. **Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasa** (1855 · Free courtyard · Ata Darvoza): Khiva's largest, 125 cells, finished in 1855. A hotel now, with the courtyard left open. 4. **Islam Khoja Madrasa** (1910 · Combined ticket · Central Itchan Kala): The smallest in the walled city and the last built here. It holds the applied arts museum. 5. **Allakuli Khan Madrasa** (1830s · Combined ticket · Palvan Darvoza): Set into the east wall in the 1830s, facing the covered bazaar and caravanserai it was planned with. 6. **Muhammad Rahim Khan Madrasa** (1870s · Combined ticket · West Itchan Kala): Opposite Kunya Ark, and the one with room to breathe: a wide courtyard now used for exhibitions. ## Best mosques & mausoleums in Khiva Four places of worship inside the walls, one of them still the busiest building in Khiva. 1. **Juma Mosque** (Rebuilt 1788 · Combined ticket · Central Itchan Kala): Two hundred and thirteen wooden columns in seventeen rows under a flat roof, a few of them a thousand years old. 2. **Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum** (Shrine · Combined ticket · South Itchan Kala): The city's patron saint under a turquoise dome, and its one working shrine. Tiled to the ceiling. 3. **Sayid Alauddin Mausoleum** (14th century · Combined ticket · Central Itchan Kala): A small fourteenth-century tomb whose majolica cenotaph predates almost everything standing around it. 4. **Ak Mosque** (1830s · Combined ticket · Palvan Darvoza): The white neighbourhood mosque by the east gate, small and low, with carved doors worth the detour. ## Best palaces & museums in Khiva Where the khans lived, worked and eventually furnished themselves out of the Middle Ages. 1. **Tosh-Hovli Palace** (1830–1841 · Combined ticket · East Itchan Kala): Allakuli Khan's 260-room stone house, and the best tilework anywhere in Khiva. 2. **Kunya Ark** (Completed 1688 · Combined ticket · West Itchan Kala): A fortress within the fortress: mint, throne court, summer mosque and the watchtower everyone climbs at dusk. 3. **Nurullaboy Saroy** (Early 1900s · Separate ticket · Dishan Kala): The Russian-furnished reception hall of the last khans, and the one palace outside the walls. 4. **Applied Arts Museum** (Museum · Combined ticket · Central Itchan Kala): Khorezm carpets, wood carving and metalwork, shown in the cells of the Islam Khoja madrasa. ## Best restaurants in Khiva Five kitchens inside and just outside the walls, and every one of them serves shivit oshi. 1. **Terrassa Cafe & Restaurant** (Uzbek · Rooftop · Itchan Kala): The rooftop everyone books, aimed straight at the Islam Khoja minaret. Reserve for sunset. 2. **Khorezm Art Restaurant** (Uzbek and French · Itchan Kala): Run by a French-Uzbek couple, so there are real vegetarian plates and French desserts beside the plov. 3. **Bir Gumbaz** (Cafe · Tea · Itchan Kala): One domed room in the middle of the walled city, doing tea, homemade sweets and a short Uzbek menu. 4. **Khiva Moon** (Uzbek · Courtyard · Khiva): A courtyard dinner away from the rooftop queues, with the Khorezm dishes done carefully. 5. **Zerafshan Chaikhana** (Chaikhana · Soups · Khiva): A plain teahouse for soups, laghman and shurpa at local prices. A lunch place, not a dinner one. ## Best craft workshops in Khiva Three working trades inside the walls, two of them revived from scratch this century. 1. **Khiva Silk Carpet Workshop** (Carpets · Free to visit · Itchan Kala): Started in 2001 by UNESCO and Operation Mercy to bring back Khorezm weaving. More than forty women work the looms. 2. **Khiva Suzani Workshop** (Suzani · Free to visit · Itchan Kala): The embroidery half of the same project, opened in 2004 with the British Council. Silk is dyed on site. 3. **Woodcarving workshops** (Woodcarving · Free to visit · Itchan Kala): The carved columns and doors around you are still cut by hand, in workshops set into the madrasa cells. ## Best rooftops & viewpoints in Khiva A walled city is a skyline. Four places to get above it, ranked by how far up they put you. 1. **Islam Khoja minaret platform** (Ticketed · 45 m · Central Itchan Kala): One hundred and eighteen steps to 45 metres, and the only view that puts the whole walled city below you. 2. **Akshi-Bobo watchtower** (Combined ticket · Sunset · West Itchan Kala): The khans' lookout at the top of Kunya Ark, and the sunset spot. It fills, so climb early. 3. **Terrassa Cafe rooftop** (Free with a table · Itchan Kala): Dinner height rather than tower height, pointed at the minaret. Free with a table, and the table needs booking. 4. **The walls at Ata Darvoza** (Free · Ata Darvoza): The west gate is where the wall stands highest and the evening light lands, with open desert behind it. ## Best day trips from Khiva Khiva takes a day. These four are what a second and third day are for. 1. **Ayaz Kala** (About 100 km · Half day · Karakalpakstan): Three ruined Khorezmian fortresses on a desert ridge, the oldest of them from the fourth century BC. 2. **Toprak Kala** (Elliq Qala · Half day · Karakalpakstan): A palace-city of the second and third centuries AD, raised on a nine-metre platform above the sand. 3. **Savitsky Museum, Nukus** (Nukus · Full day · Karakalpakstan): The second largest collection of Russian avant-garde anywhere, assembled in the desert. Long drive, worth it. 4. **Urgench** (35 km · Half day · Khorazm Region): The regional capital 35 km away: the airport, the long-distance trains, and a Soviet grid to walk off an hour in. ## Festivals & annual events in Khiva (2026) - **New Year** (1 January): A public holiday, and one of the few winter dates with any crowd inside the walls. Museums keep short hours. - **International Women's Day** (8 March): A public holiday taken seriously across Uzbekistan. Offices and many shops close; the monuments stay open. - **Navruz** (21 March): The Persian new year, and the biggest date in the Uzbek calendar. Music and dancing inside Itchan Kala, and sumalak. - **International Lazgi Dance Festival** (Late April, in alternating years): Khorezm's own dance, on the UNESCO intangible heritage list since 2019, performed in the squares of the walled city. - **Ramadan Hayit (Eid al-Fitr)** (Moves with the lunar calendar): The public holiday closing the fasting month. Restaurants keep normal hours through Ramadan; the shrine is at its busiest. - **Qurbon Hayit (Eid al-Adha)** (Moves with the lunar calendar): The feast of sacrifice, and the second of the two big religious dates. Expect full trains and full guesthouses. - **Melon Festival (Qovun sayli)** (Early August): Khorezm's melon harvest marked at Itchan Kala with folk music, costume displays and regional cooking. - **Independence Day** (1 September): Uzbekistan marks 1991 with concerts and fireworks. Khiva stages its own in front of the walls. ## Must-try dishes in Khiva, Uzbekistan - **Shivit oshi**: Khiva's own: dill-green noodles under a beef, potato and carrot stew, with yoghurt on the side. - **Tuxum barak**: Khorezm ravioli filled with beaten egg and butter, boiled and eaten with sour cream. - **Khorezm plov**: Darker and drier than the Tashkent version, and cooked with the region's own spice mix. - **Gumma**: Fried half-moon pastries, filled with potato, spinach, pumpkin or minced beef. - **Tandir somsa**: Slapped onto the tandoor wall and pulled off blistered, with lamb and onion inside. - **Shashlik**: Charcoal skewers ordered by the stick, and the default dinner in every Itchan Kala courtyard. - **Shurpa**: A clear mutton broth with whole potato and carrot, ordered when the desert turns cold. - **Khorezm melon**: The region's export since the Silk Road, sold by the cartload in August and September. ## Khiva transport & airports - **Urgench International Airport** (UGC): The way in by air, 35 km northeast. Uzbekistan Airways runs the Tashkent shuttle plus routes to Istanbul, Moscow and a few European cities. Forty minutes by taxi. [Uzbekistan Airways](https://www.uzairways.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Rail** (Rail): Khiva has its own station just outside the walls. Overnight sleepers run from Tashkent, and a faster daytime train via Samarkand and Bukhara does it in about seven hours on the days it runs. [Book tickets](https://eticket.railway.uz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Shared taxis and minibuses** (Road): Urgench is the road hub. Shared cars and marshrutkas cover the 35 km to Khiva all day, and the same cars run on to Nukus and Bukhara. - **Getting around Khiva** (On foot): Itchan Kala is closed to cars and crosses in ten minutes, so walking is the transport. For Nurullaboy, the station and the airport, Yandex Go works and prices in advance. ## Khiva at a glance - **Country:** Uzbekistan - **Region:** Khorazm Region (Xorazm viloyati), northwest Uzbekistan - **Population:** About 93,000 in the city, around 1.96 million in Khorazm Region (2023) - **Founded:** Settled for well over a thousand years; Itchan Kala listed by UNESCO in 1990 - **Nickname:** The museum city - **Language:** Uzbek in the Khorezm dialect, with Russian widely spoken - **Currency:** Uzbek som (UZS) - **Time zone:** Uzbekistan Time (UTC+5), no daylight saving - **Calling code:** +998 62 - **Airports:** Urgench International (UGC), about 35 km northeast - **Power:** 220V · plug types C and F - **Emergency:** 112 unified · Fire 101 · Police 102 · Ambulance 103 ## Interesting facts - Itchan Kala was inscribed in 1990, the first UNESCO World Heritage site anywhere in Uzbekistan. - Kalta Minor means short minaret. It stopped at 29 metres in 1855, when the khan who ordered it was killed in battle. - The Juma Mosque stands on 213 wooden columns in seventeen rows, and a few of them were carved a thousand years ago. - Al-Khwarizmi, whose name gave us the word algorithm, came from Khorezm, the region Khiva has anchored ever since. - Lazgi, the Khorezm dance still performed in Khiva, joined the UNESCO intangible heritage list in December 2019. ## Watch [Khiva Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/khiva.md), 7:30 ## Khiva travel FAQ ### How many days do you need in Khiva? One full day covers Itchan Kala without rushing, which is why most tours give it a single night. Two is better: it lets you spread the combined ticket across its 48 hours, climb the Islam Khoja minaret in good light, and keep a morning for Nurullaboy or the desert fortresses. ### How much is the Itchan Kala ticket and what does it cover? The combined ticket is sold at the gates for around 250,000 som and runs for 48 hours. It opens roughly sixteen sites, the Juma Mosque, Kunya Ark and Tosh-Hovli among them. Walking the streets is free, and the minaret climb and Nurullaboy are ticketed separately. ### Is Khiva worth visiting compared with Bukhara and Samarkand? It is the smallest of the three and the most complete. Samarkand has the largest monuments and Bukhara the fuller city, but Khiva is the only one where an entire walled town survives behind its gates. Give it a day if you are moving fast, two if you want it quiet. ### What is the best time of year to visit Khiva? April, May, September and October. The desert around the city pushes summer highs past 40°C and drops winter nights below freezing, and there is almost no shade inside the walls. Late September adds the melon harvest and the last of the warm evenings. ### How do you get to Khiva? Fly to Urgench (UGC), 35 km northeast, then take a taxi or a shared car for the forty-minute run in. By rail, overnight sleepers reach Khiva from Tashkent and a faster daytime service via Samarkand and Bukhara does it in about seven hours on the days it runs. ## Nearby guides - [Bukhara](https://wimup.com/city/bukhara.md): Uzbekistan · 10 picks - [Turkistan](https://wimup.com/city/turkistan.md): Kazakhstan · 10 picks - [Tashkent](https://wimup.com/city/tashkent.md): Uzbekistan · 10 picks - [All of Asia →](https://wimup.com/asia): 99 cities Part of the [Uzbekistan guide](https://wimup.com/country/uzbekistan.md) · [Asia](https://wimup.com/asia.md) ## Sources - [Khiva tourism board](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/i/khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Kalta Minor Minaret: Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/kalta-minor-khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Islam Khoja Minaret and Madrasa: Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/islam-khoja-minaret-khiva/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Kunya Ark: Uzbekistan Travel](https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/kunya-ark-fortress/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Urgench International Airport: Uzbekistan Airways](https://www.uzairways.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Rail: Book tickets](https://eticket.railway.uz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.