Bukhara's Old City is an open-air museum where walking is free: Kalon square, Char Minar and the trading domes charge nothing. Spend your som on 25,000-som plov, 2,000-som non and 2,000-som marshrutkas instead of tickets.
The square between the 1127 minaret, Kalon Mosque and Mir-i-Arab Madrasa is public ground with no gate and no fee. Mosque courtyard entry costs 30,000 som, but the 47m minaret, the tilework and the Mir-i-Arab facade are free from outside. Arrive by 09:00 for empty flagstones.
You can circle the entire 20m mud-brick wall of the citadel on foot for nothing. The sloped buttresses, the ramp gate between two towers and the open Registan plaza in front are all outside the ticket line. Interior museums cost 40,000 som; the walls are the better photo.
Bukhara's living room: a 17th-century stone pool ringed by Kukeldash Madrasa, Nadir Divan-Begi Khanaka and gnarled mulberries. Sitting on the steps, feeding carp and watching backgammon players costs zero. Bring your own water — teahouse tea runs 15,000 som a pot.
The four blue-domed towers of 1807 sit down a residential alley off Hodja Nurobobod street — free to photograph, 15,000 som only if you climb the roof. Walk on into the Jewish Quarter's mud-walled lanes past the 16th-century synagogue on Sarrafon street.
The real local market a kilometre north of the Old City, where Bukharans actually shop. Dried apricots 25,000 som/kg, walnuts 60,000 som/kg, a whole melon 15,000 som, tandoor non straight from the oven 3,000 som. Cash only, small notes, mild haggling expected.
A workers' oshxona serving Bukharan plov from a cauldron until it runs out, usually by 14:00. A full portion with lamb, chickpeas and quail egg is about 30,000 som, green tea 3,000 som, salad 8,000 som. Plastic tables, no English menu, point at the kazan.
Three 16th-century covered bazaars still standing on the old Silk Road crossroads, connected by a walkable 800m spine. Entering and wandering under the brick domes is free; scarves start at 40,000 som and prices drop by a third if you walk away once.
Charcoal braziers fire up along Sarrafon after 18:00 and lamb skewers go for 15,000-20,000 som each, chicken 12,000 som, served on non with raw onion and vinegar. Two skewers and bread makes dinner for under 45,000 som, a third of Lyab-i Hauz restaurant prices.
A 16th-century city of the dead 5km west of Bukhara: courtyards, a khanaka and hundreds of family tombs under old trees, with peacocks wandering the grounds. Entry 20,000 som. Marshrutka 60 from Karshi gate costs 2,000 som each way, 20 minutes.
The last emir's summer palace 4km north, reached by marshrutka 9 or 70 for 2,000 som. The peacock garden, the pond and the harem courtyard grounds are walkable; the palace museum charges 40,000 som but the park and exteriors reward a free stroll.
Bukhara's big free green space, holding the 10th-century Samanid Mausoleum and the conical-domed Chashma-Ayub spring. The park itself and the Samanid tomb's exterior brickwork cost nothing; the small water museum inside Chashma-Ayub is 15,000 som.
The 1712 mosque facing the Ark has twenty carved elm columns reflected in its pool, and it stays free to sit beside. Late afternoon light turns the painted ceiling gold. Locals gather on the benches; the muezzin's call carries across Registan square at dusk.