Riad Nur & Tours — Hotel in Nurata

Let me begin by saying that I can 100% understand the bad as well as the good reviews.|We were 3 friends travelling together. In total we paid 550$ for 3 days and 2 nights - 1 night in the desert and 1 night in the mountains.|I requested the trip including transfer from Samarkand only one day beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised that Ruslan arranged this for us "last minute".|Ruslan is friendly and speaks good english, but also doesn't talk a lot if not asked. I would also describe him as an opportunist.|When we arrived in Nurata to have lunch and start our adventure, there was already another traveler who was already waiting 3-4 hours to start his trip - he had to wait for us, because only a limited number of cars and drivers are available.|Our initial plan was to only go to the mountains, while our fellow traveler wanted to spend a night in the desert. So Ruslan sold us on the idea to spend one night in the desert and one night in the mountains. We agreed, because it sounded interesting and we were already friendly with our fellow traveler.|The stay in the desert was great, we had an opportunity to swim in a lake beforehand and the yurts as well as the spot itself seemed authentic enough. We had some great dinner from a kazan and interesting conversations with a bald man, the aparent owner of this little camp.|Next day we visited a Kazakh village in the desert and afterwards drove on to the mountains.|It should be noted that from this point on Ruslan left and we only spent the rest of the time with our driver Mustafa, who spoke very little english but was very nice.|We did a hike in the mountains - because we wanted to do it on our own we asked Mustafa to wait on the other side and meet us there. The hike was very scenic and we also met multiple local kids who spoke english with us.|This night we spent in "Guesthouse Obi Chasma" in the village Sentob. Dinner was alright and most of the family was very nice. We had to share our room with the other traveller, which was fine for us. The room as well as the toilet/shower were simple but appropriate.|That night we even had drinks and a little dancing party with the family and 2 other travellers. The kids as well as the grandmothers were dancing with us! That was alot of fun.|Unfortunately the next day the vibe was completely different, as we were rushed to eat a very frugal breakfast and get out of there quickly (apparently there was a pre-wedding ceremony later on).||Because it was already very hot that day (around 30°) and we had a long hike before us, we asked to get water bottles.|The father of the family honestly wanted 10.000 UZS per Bottle of water!!!!! You would think that for a hiking trip the frigging water should be included in the very generous amount of 500$, but NO!|This and rushing us out of there really spoiled a otherwise nice stay at this guesthouse.|What also further spoiled it, was that all 3 of us developed food poisoning while hiking to the next village. Apparently something in the breakfast was unsanitary (although we only ate fried eggs and bread). This gift would accompany us the next 3 days.|We ended the hike and trip with lunch in another nice guesthouse, unfortunately i wasn't able to eat anything.||Summarized I'd say I wouldn't do it again but im glad i made the experience. (Most of) the food we had was great, the local people, especially the kids were so friendly and I was so surprised about the english level of some. The desert, as well as the mountains were lovely and it was so interesting to see the differnet living conditions in desert and mountains.|What I disliked was the intransparency in communication, the attitude of the guesthouse owners and the chaotic organisation in general.|I encourage you to visit Nurata and its surrounding areas, but I hope that you now understand that your experience could vary a lot, which is why there are so many good as well as bad reviews here.|@Ruslan I hope you can improve your organisation and...

Let me begin by saying that I can 100% understand the bad as well as the good reviews. We were 3 friends travelling together. In total we paid 550$ for 3 days and 2 nights - 1 night in the desert and 1 night in the mountains. I requested the trip including transfer from Samarkand only one day beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised that Ruslan arranged this for us "last minute". Ruslan is friendly and speaks good english, but also doesn't talk a lot if not asked. I would also describe him as an opportunist. When we arrived in Nurata to have lunch and start our adventure, there was already another traveler who was already waiting 3-4 hours to start his trip - he had to wait for us, because only a limited number of cars and drivers are available. Our initial plan was to only go to the mountains, while our fellow traveler wanted to spend a night in the desert. So Ruslan sold us on the idea to spend one night in the desert and one night in the mountains. We agreed, because it sounded interesting and we were already friendly with our fellow traveler. The stay in the desert was great, we had an opportunity to swim in a lake beforehand and the yurts as well as the spot itself seemed authentic enough. We had some great dinner from a kazan and interesting conversations with a bald man, the aparent owner of this little camp. Next day we visited a Kazakh village in the desert and afterwards drove on to the mountains. It should be noted that from this point on Ruslan left and we only spent the rest of the time with our driver Mustafa, who spoke very little english but was very nice. We did a hike in the mountains - because we wanted to do it on our own we asked Mustafa to wait on the other side and meet us there. The hike was very scenic and we also met multiple local kids who spoke english with us. This night we spent in "Guesthouse Obi Chasma" in the village Sentob. Dinner was alright and most of the family was very nice. We had to share our room with the other traveller, which was fine for us. The room as well as the toilet/shower were simple but appropriate. That night we even had drinks and a little dancing party with the family and 2 other travellers. The kids as well as the grandmothers were dancing with us! That was alot of fun. Unfortunately the next day the vibe was completely different, as we were rushed to eat a very frugal breakfast and get out of there quickly (apparently there was a pre-wedding ceremony later on).

Because it was already very hot that day (around 30°) and we had a long hike before us, we asked to get water bottles. The father of the family honestly wanted 10.000 UZS per Bottle of water!!!!! You would think that for a hiking trip the frigging water should be included in the very generous amount of 500$, but NO! This and rushing us out of there really spoiled a otherwise nice stay at this guesthouse. What also further spoiled it, was that all 3 of us developed food poisoning while hiking to the next village. Apparently something in the breakfast was unsanitary (although we only ate fried eggs and bread). This gift would accompany us the next 3 days. We ended the hike and trip with lunch in another nice guesthouse, unfortunately i wasn't able to eat anything.

Summarized I'd say I wouldn't do it again but im glad i made the experience. (Most of) the food we had was great, the local people, especially the kids were so friendly and I was so surprised about the english level of some. The desert, as well as the mountains were lovely and it was so interesting to see the differnet living conditions in desert and mountains. What I disliked was the intransparency in communication, the attitude of the guesthouse owners and the chaotic organisation in general. I encourage you to visit Nurata and its surrounding areas, but I hope that you now understand that your experience could vary a lot, which is why there are so many good as well as bad...

AVOID!

Ruslan is extremely greedy person and the whole experience felt like a tourist exploitation/tourist trap.

i want to say that Nurota region is a beautiful part of Uzbekistan and highly recommend visiting. just avoid Rulan tour

i found the yurt camp itself quite ok

i was travelling as a solo traveller and the problems and chaos started right at the beginning - Rulan did not arrange a pick up for me from Bukhara or expected me to squeeze with other travellers to small sedan which was impossible... I had to wait for over an hour to get a driver. This problem occurred throughout the whole trip - I never knew if I get a driver or not and spend much more time waiting than exploring

spend over 3 hours just waiting at the "guest house" - guest house is more a construction site at the moment and it was very uncomfortable

in late afternoon i finally got a driver to take me to yurt camp - this time sharing with other travellers that were desperately waiting to get out of the "guest house"

the following day I was supposed to explore lake/desert/village. I was again forced to share a driver which would not be a problem if the driver was not rushing so much. We did not even make a stop in the village. The only stop that the driver "allowed" us to make was by the lake. But not in the resort/beach that was listed in the itinerary and included in the price, but in some random spot. The stop lasted only 3 minutes and we had to continue back to "guest house".

In the guest house I had to wait again for over two hours to get a driver that would take me to Samarkand. I ordered a scenic route to Samarkand with a hike. A hike never happened, driver just quickly stopped by a small village and we had to continue towards Samarkand.

and the cherry on top - the last driver seemed like he was driving for the first time to Samarkand, got lost two times and in the city of Samarkand had no clue where my hotel is. I had to navigate him. Despite that he just randomly stopped by a first hotel he saw and told me to get out. At this moment I was so over it that I just got out of the car a got myself a yandex to get me to my hotel.

i am a photographer and was really looking forward to take some pictures of the rural life of Uzbekistan. I feel truly betrayed because for the money spend I did not have even the opportunity to explore this region. Everything was so rushed but in the same time I spent most of the time just waiting and waiting.

It has been almost two weeks since my experience and I am still furious and disappointed.

Despite my horrible experience and not seeing places I was told I will see, I still had to pay all 215usd. There was no room for negotiation and Ruslan never apologised or just acknowledged his mistakes. He just wanted the money and did not care at all about...