Hotel Courtyard di Tashkent

This was our first visit to Uzbekistan with an open mind on what we would end up doing in Tashkent. We took the safer bet by starting our country tour with the Marriott brand we know well. We were not disappointed! This is a well-run, spacious, clean hotel and was an ideal choice to begin with. Predictably, the décor is totally “Marriott!”, so lacks a Central Asian feel to it, but that is as the brand dictates. In the kitchen they make up for that with an excellent range of menu items that spans great local Uzbeki dishes and high-quality international cuisine. There is clearly a lot of pride in the kitchen shown by the attention given to good presentation. The breakfast buffet is good too. It would be good if the hotel made more effort to promote Uzbek wines at the Lobby Bar, rather than focus on the more expensive international ones. In the restaurant, there is only a limited choice of local wine compared to other places and no wine at all in the 8th Floor bar. These are all minor quibbles though. It is the attitude of the staff that makes this hotel work best. Everyone is keen to give a good professional impression in each of their roles. The reception and restaurant staff were without exception universally polite, efficient and friendly. We were ever so thankful to Shuhrat at the front desk who got us well-organised from the start with a local SIM card, dealing with money and making helpful suggestions on how to tackle Tashkent and then organise the rest of our stay not only in Tashkent buy beyond. He is soft-spoken and gracious and a good listener. He could read our preferences quickly. On our return, it was Shuhrat who organised a very good driver/guide to visit the mountains and encouraged us to take a dip to go to the beach on Lake Charvak and enjoy a dip there. A big thank you to everyone at the Tashkent Courtyard for helping to make this one of the best exploratory vacations we ever had.