Orient Star Khiva in Khiva

We were very happy with our stay at the Orient Star Hotel. The setting is unique, with a lovely courtyard and great restaurant. The front desk staff were exceptionally helpful - many thanks to Umidbek and Tohir for your priceless help.

As others have commented this is an historic building in a great central location. Yes some rooms are very small and quite dark but perfectly okay for a night or two. It’s a shame that both maintenance and cleanliness are below par and so much more could be made of the central courtyard and other public areas. It all seems a bit lack lustre.

Former 19th century madrassa near to historic town centre. Nice atmospheric bedroom with usual facilities, if a little small. Air Con Overlooking central courtyard although little natural light. Decent breakfast in lovely dining room

This is my second stay at the Orient Star in Khiva. I would choose this hotel over and over again mainly because of the location; it has the best location in Khiva. The facilities are basic but you will still have a very comfortable stay for 2 or 3 nights. The breakfast is pretty average but it’s not the worst out there. I did experience something unexpected from the staff members at this hotel though: We had a private tour scheduled to start from this hotel at 10:00am. (The hotel did not organize this) Our guide was late by 10 minutes which is extremely unusual in my experience of doing private guided tours. Our tour guide looked flushed and she explained she was in a meeting with hotel manager and another lady (let’s call her D), and so she got delayed. Once our tour guide started the tours she was INTERRUPTED by the hotels receptionist, not once but multiple times. He could clearly see our tour guide busy in explanation but he just stood there, insisting her to stop and go to him. It was SO awkward and ill-mannered of the hotel receptionist to do this. When the guide completed her introductory explanations, we were heading towards the hotel’s courtyard to learn about it’s history. Before we could get there, an extremely RUDE and tactless lady opened an office door and aggressively called our tour guide into her office- USING HER INDEX FINGER and raising her voice! I could understand enough that our guide told her to lower her voice and that she’s with tourists; that she can’t leave the tour. This rude lady D started shouting our guide to enter her office. The manager was also there and did nothing to diffuse the situation. In order not to cause more drama, our guide went to ont he office and rude lady D banged the door shut without any apology to us. We could hear them both screaming for atleast 10 minutes. When they both existed, our tour guide apologised profusely but lady D just walked passed with a sour face. I ended up going to the police station to file a witness report- my guides wanted to file a complaint against ride Lady D, who apparently assaulted my guide behind closed doors. I simply went to provide a statement of what I saw exactly as described above. The hotel staff or manager did nothing accommodate nor apologize for this inconvenience to any witnesses. They had zero regard for our time.

Pro. - cultural highlight as previous Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassah - magic view of the courtyard, peaceful and picturesque - functional room in a previously used student residential with a special feeling - lovely view from the city wall of the lives outside the old city Con. - good breakfast in a collaboration with a restaurant but with broken coffee machine, so only instant coffee available

Lovely boutique hotel conveniently located within the city walls. Bedrooms are in old student rooms of the old madrasa overlooking a central courtyard. Breakfast was usual buffet table and located across the road in separate building. A great town to visit.

This hotel is an old historical Madrassah I stayed at this lovely place whilst on a Wild Frontiers tour of Uzbekistan. It's location is inside the old city wall. Khiva itself was the highlight of my holiday. Staying in this hotel was a big contribution to that. The rooms are the students cells. The rooms are furnished with traditional style furniture. The bathroom had everything you needed. Our group all agreed it had a great atmosphere and was a very good location. You could walk around this place on your own and feel safe doing so. The only thing is that the beds have very hard mattresses. They could do with a mattress topper to help get a comfortable nights sleep. The breakfast is served in another Madrassah just across the road. There is a good selection of food for all tastes. It is buffet service. I felt very privileged to have stayed in this lovely historical place.

The hotel is located right next to the Kalta minaret. We loved the view from our 1st floor room. The staff was friendly and helpful. Breakfast was served in the adjoining madrasa building. The steps are narrow and steep - caution for travellers with medical conditions to choose ground floor rooms. Overall, great location and hotel.

I loved this hotel for the architecture and atmosphere. The courtyard is lovely and a great place for a restoring drink after a day being a tourist in Khiva. The rooms are nice but most of them are narrow with two narrow single beds. This is after all what the Madrassah students would have had and the rooms are converted Madrassah cells. Service OK. Breakfast (in a smaller converted Madrassah just around the corner) perfectly adequate.