Jipek Joli Hotel: An Artsy Boutique Hotel in Nukus
For most people staying in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, it marks either the beginning or the end of an Aral Sea adventure.
With one of the best locations in Nukus, easy walking distance from the famous Savitsky Museum and some of the city’s better restaurants, Jipek Joli Hotel is a welcome oasis for travelers about to or returning from the Aralkum Desert, the vast stretch of former seabed (now the world’s youngest desert) left behind by the shrinking Aral Sea.
Especially you’re doing the full two-day, one-night experience, it’s worth entering it rested, relaxing in a nice hotel afterwards… or both!
Haven’t booked your Aral Sea adventure yet? This Aral Sea tour is offered by Jipek Joli’s tour company, and I highly recommend it.
I loved the trip out to the Aral Sea, but I won’t lie, it’s definitely tiring: two straight days of bumping across the jagged floor of the Aralkum desert and driving across dusty steppes to reach what remains of the Aral Sea, and sleeping in a yurt camp. After all that, my mid-30s back was screaming out for a good bed!
You’ll be spending a few days covered in layers of dust, stacking up like sedimentary rock: and in that case, there’s something deeply satisfying about returning to a genuinely excellent hotel afterward. Sadly, we could only stay in Jipek Joli Hotel on our way to the Aral Sea, because it was fully booked on our return night.
But I still think staying there before the Aral Sea tour was fantastic: it refreshed us after a dusty day exploring Khorezm fortresses on the way to Nukus from Khiva. A good night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast left us in a really good mood for our Aral Sea tour.
(Note: Just to avoid confusion, I am talking about Jipek Joli Hotel, not Jipek Joli Inn. They’re owned by the same people, and I’ve heard good things about the inn and imagine it has similar nice touches. However, I only stayed at the hotel, so that’s the one I can personally recommend.)
Check availability at Jipek Holi Hotel for your travel dates here!
First Impressions of Jipek Joli Hotel
I love myself a design hotel that feels trendy but with its own point of view. And Jipek Joli delivers on that, feeling both trendy and yet sure of itself. It’s also very spacious, and I enjoyed the thoughtful design touches everywhere.
I felt that sense of appreciation for the aesthetic the moment I walked in. First impressions matter, and the lobby is a beauty: modern and artfully designed without any pretense.
Check-in was quick and easy, and the staff were so helpful — they even helped us organize a visit to the Savitsky Museum even though it was typically closed on Mondays.
One thing I particularly appreciated was that they accepted credit cards without any issues. Uzbekistan has gotten much better for card payments over the years, but I still occasionally ran into problems using my American credit cards, which don’t have PINs like many other country’s cards do.
I also appreciated their positive messaging and progressive mindset being loudly and proudly displayed. This family-run hotel also promotes local artists, with artwork from Karakalpak artists on display and for sale (you can see a lot of these works for sale in the restaurant and breakfast room)
I love supporting businesses that support and uplift women as well as the local population, especially given that the Karakalpak people are some of the more marginalized and impoverished people in Uzbekistan, especially after the Aral Sea disaster.
They don’t typically benefit as much from tourism in Uzbekistan as locals in other more popular Silk Road cities, and Jipek Joli Hotel offers them a great platform to share and sell their art.
Our Room at Jipek Joli Hotel
Our room was enormous, which was much needed. That way, we could spread out and repack our bags for our Aral Sea adventure easily, without feeling too cramped.
We had a giant king-size bed that had plenty of space for two people, a green velvet couch for lounging, a proper work desk, and a wardrobe which would be nice for those planning a longer stay.
The bed was extremely comfortable, and I slept really well. One detail I especially appreciated was the Scandi-style bedding setup, which is the superior way of doing sleeping (this is a hill I will gladly die on).
Instead of one shared duvet, the hotel provides separate duvets for each side of the bed. It’s a genius solution for a problem that has plagued me most of my life — I am an unstoppable blanket thief when unconscious, and those forced to share a duvet with me are usually fighting for their life by morning trying to stay warm.
Since they provided individual duvets, I didn’t have to put my travel companion through that. I’m both grateful that she didn’t have to experience that and that I didn’t have the morning-after guilt that comes with realizations of your continued blanket thievery.
If I had to nitpick, the only small drawback I can find is that the bathroom was relatively small.
Compared to the rest of the room which is highly aesthetic, it’s not especially memorable from a design perspective. But I don’t see that as a big con, since everything worked exactly as it should.
The shower had good water pressure, the hot water was reliable, and perhaps most importantly (to me specifically), it had a bathtub with an actual stopper. This may sound like a strangely singular thing to celebrate, but I have my reasons.
As a certified bath lover, I’ve stayed in more than one Uzbek hotel with a devastating fake-out: a bathtub is technically present but impossible to use because there’s no plug. It’s a horrifying realization, but luckily, Jipek Joli delivered the real thing.
After spending the day climbing around ancient Khorezm fortresses (and getting quite dusty!), being able to soak my sore muscles and then properly clean off with a shower afterwards felt absolutely fantastic.
Check availability at Jipek Joli here!
Breakfast
The breakfast was excellent and easily one of the highlights of the stay. I’d venture to say it was my favorite breakfast I had at a hotel stay in my entire two weeks in Uzbekistan.
It had all my favorite elements of a classic Uzbek hotel breakfast, with a little extra special touches thrown in. The spread included crepes, tvorog (a cottage cheese-like dairy product), fresh berries, fruit, nuts, dates, spinach-cheese samsa, and plenty of fresh tomatoes. Once you have tomatoes in Uzbekistan, you’re kind of ruined for tomatoes from anywhere else.
Everything was fresh and well-prepared, and it was exactly the kind of breakfast that makes you accidentally eat far more than intended… but that was perfect, as I was about to head out to the Aral Sea and wasn’t sure when lunch would be, so it was nice to be properly fueled for a long day of driving across rough terrains.
Location
Jipek Joli Hotel is within easy walking distance of the Savitsky Museum, the main attraction in Nukus and with good reason: it quickly became one of my top 10 favorite museums in the world, a distinction I don’t bestow lightly.
Several good restaurants are also nearby, making it easy to explore the city without constantly needing taxis. My favorite restaurant I tried in Nukus is literally right around the corner: Sofram Restoran, which serves great Turkish dishes.
One Thing to Know
Jipek Joli Hotel is extremely popular among Nukus travelers. In fact, when we returned from the Aral Sea, the hotel — as well as the Jipek Joli Inn, owned by the same people — was completely booked, and we couldn’t get a room at either.
Instead, we stayed at Pana Hotel. It was perfectly fine: the hotel itself was comfortable, but it was located near the airport (not convenient for sightseeing). It was also slightly more expensive than Jipek Joli… for a smaller room with less impressive amenities and a markedly worse location.
While I had no complaints about Pana Hotel itself, I didn’t feel it offered better value, especially considering the less-than-walkable location. So if you know your travel dates in advance, I’d strongly recommend booking Jipek Joli as early as possible.
Final Opinion
If you’re looking for the best all-around hotel in Nukus, Jipek Joli Hotel would be my first choice. It’s not the cheapest room you’ll find in Nukus, but for what we paid ($68 for a two-person room in May), I think it was great value.
It provides exactly the kind of comfort you’ll appreciate before or after an Aral Sea multi-day exploration. After dusty desert roads, that’s exactly what you need!
Have you stayed at Jipek Joli Hotel recently, or any other hotels in Nukus? I would love to hear your thoughts; feel free to leave a comment below for other travelers to Nukus!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.
