Uzbekistan
15 days tour in the heart of the Silk Road
Starting from € 940 per person
groups of 8 people max
15 days
Inclusions: all accommodations, breakfasts, ground transportation, sightseeing, local guides, tour leader, workshops…
Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Nurata
“I landed in Tashkent in a hot, dry and sunny early afternoon. I looked around me and everything was fascinatingly familiar, unexpectedly exciting and comfortably unique..”
From the iconic blu domes of majestic Mosques and Madrassas of Samarkand to the dusty and narrow alleys of Bukhara. From the modern, Soviet-looking, large boulevards of Tashkent to the traditional Plov centers the delicious, rich, flavourful national dish has been boiling and frying for centuries. From the charm of Khiva, its blue giant minarets, and inspiring art workshops where family secrets have been kept and transmitted for generations to thousand-year-old fortresses hidden in the desert.
Uzbekistan is in the heart of the Silk Road, halfway from the Far East and Europe, the land of ancient kingdoms, empires, khanates, brutal invasions, and the homeland of poets, artists, and kings. A melting pot of people, religions, ethnic groups flavors, art, and knowledge which is so clearly and proudly carried in everyday life.
The contrast, the harmony, the new and the old, the present and the past, the push towards modernity, and the strong traditions blend in a harmonious, unique, and fascinating.
Uzbekistan has it all: nature, history, architecture, arts, food, thousands of years old traditions, and that unique attitude toward guests that will make you fall in love with its people.
Uzbekistan is simply the perfect introduction to the ancient Silk Road trade routes area.
Highlights
We will travel slowly by trains and local transport, we will be visiting the old cities and diving into the extremely rich, diverse, mind-blowing history of the heart of the Silk Road. We will start and finish the trip in the capital of the country, a cosmopolitan buzzing city that combines its past, culture, and traditions with modern Soviet elements and a contemporary push towards one of today's biggest centers of Central Asia.
We will explore and spend days in rural areas and villages, trekking through valleys and hills from one village to the next, getting to know the traditions and cultures kept intact by modernity. We will meet, interact, and learn with and from local families and communities. We will sleep in their houses, eat each cook with them. We will get closer and meet masters of arts almost forgotten in the rest of the world, we will cross deserts and sleep next to 2000-year-old fortresses.
We will travel and explore in an ethical, responsible way, having as little impact as we can on the environment and local communities. We will grab opportunities when they come, change plans when needed, and immerse ourselves as much as we can in one of the most fascinating, intriguing, happy, colorful, diverse, and deeply cultural areas of the world.
Some of the included highlights:
Visit the biggest bazaar in Central Asia
Get amazed by the stunning view of Registan Square in Samarkand
Sleep in the desert
Visit the remains of the Kushan Empire citadels (over 2000 years old)
Spend the day and night with a local family in a village learning about the daily life and hundreds of years old traditions
Visit artisans and masters of unique arts such as miniature, pottery, embroidery, paper making, etc
Use local trains
Trek through Nurata Valley and its villages
Learn how to make some of the local dishes
Tour cost and what’s included
The cost of the tour varies depending on the number of participants.
It starts from € 940 (per person) in an eight people group.
The Tour cost includes:
12 Breakfasts, 3 lunches, 4 Dinners
4 trains and local transport
2 private transfers
Local guides
Entrances to monuments/ museums/ activities when included
9 nights in small guesthouses
1 night in the desert
1 night in a local village house
2 nights in a homestay
Tour leader 24/24 with the group
The following aren’t included:
Flight tickets
Personal (required) travel insurance
Not-included meals
Entrances and activities not mentioned in the itinerary
Souvenirs
Airport transfers
Tipping kitty to collect at the start of the trip
Day by day Itinerary
(B= breakfast, L= lunch, D= dinner, LG= local guide)
Day 1
Arrival at the guesthouse and meeting with Ali and the rest of the group before going to try some Uzbek cuisine
Day 2
First full day in Tashkent. We will walk through the city center and the biggest bazaar of Central Asia: Chorsu Bazaar. We will try the national dish at the Plov Center, visit the house/ studio of a master ceramist, and the little Applied Art museum.
Inclusions: B, LG all-day, Entrance to Applied Art Museum, Taxies, and Metro
Day 3
We catch an early train to Samarkand and arrive at around 11 am. Transfer to the hotel (by taxi) and after dropping bags at the guesthouse we will start visiting the capital of the Timur empire and its breathtaking mosques and Madrassas
Inclusions: B, LG half-day, Entrances to Registan Square, Bibi Khanum mosque, Shah-I-Zinda complex, Gur Emir, Train and Public transportation
Day 4
First the first half of the day we will follow the Silk Road history through blue domes, dusty alleys, and Soviet, breezy boulevards. The rest of the day will be on our own with the opportunity of visiting some more places, attending wine testing, or wandering around the Old City.
Inclusions: B, LG half day
Day 5
We jump on another train and this time we head to Bukhara! We will arrive at around 15.30. Bukhara is all to be explored by foot, getting lost through its alleys and spending time through its ancient bazaar and mosques.
Inclusions: B, Train and Public transport
Day 6
Full day in Bukhara, we will keep on exploring the city with our local guide.
Inclusions: B, Entrances to Samanid Mausoleum, Ark Citadel, Bolohvuz mosque, Kalyan Mosque, LG Full-day
Day 7
A whole free day to spend in Bukhara and/or its surroundings… exploring its dusty, quiet alleys driving to the Summer Palace of the Last Emir taking a relaxing traditional Hammam, or visiting some local workshops and learning more about the folk arts and crafts of the region.
Inclusions: B
Day 8
Today we leave Bukhara but we don’t go very far! After a short taxi ride, we will stop at the rural village of, the hometown of one of our local guides. We will spend the day discovering and learning about the local rural life, taking part in everyday activities, interacting with the locals, observing, eating, and cooking
Inclusions: B L D, LG full day
Day 9
Very early transfer to train station and departure to Khiva (5 am). We will arrive on the other side of the Country at around 11 am. Khiva is a little pearl in the desert and it will bring us back by hundreds of years! Our guesthouse is in the heart of the old city.
Inclusions: B, Entrances to the historic sites, LG half-day
Day 10
The morning will be on our own today in Khiva. In the early afternoon, we will drive to the desert north of the city to the ancient fortresses of the Kushan empire. We will stop by the remains of 2000-year-old citadels and spend the night in the desert with some locals semi-nomads in their Gers.
Inclusions: B D, LG half-day, Private transport
Day 11
In the morning we drive back to Urgench and we will catch the train to Navoi at 13.00. We will arrive at 22.30 and we will head to our small hotel for the night
Inclusions: B, LG half-day, Private transport back to Urgench and Train
Day 12
We leave Navoi in the morning and we head to Nurata only 55 km away. This is the location of the ancient Nur fortress built by Alexander the Great. We will have a look at what remained of the Alexander majestic fortress before reaching the village of Majerum.
Nurata Valley is a lush green, quiet, peaceful area to explore on foot and this is what we will do in the next couple of days.
Inclusions: B D, a night at a local homestay, LG full day, Private transport to Nurata and then to Majerum
Day 13
Today we explore the valley of Nurata at the border with the Kyzylkum desert, away from the buzz of the colorful cities. We will hike from Majerum to Hayat passing through Andygen (tot 17 km). We will stop by villages, mosques, ruins, and 2000-year-old trees, we will meet the locals and find out about the folklore, traditions and life in the countryside.
Inclusions: B L D, LG full day
Day 14
In the morning we will keep exploring the hills around us, and the Hayatsaya valley. After lunch, we will drive back to where we started and spend the last evening in Tashkent!
Inclusions: B L, LG half-day, Private transport
Day 15
End of the tour
Inclusions: B
Why this tour?
Uzbekistan witnessed a rush in tourism popularity in the past few years. This is why you should visit before more people will discover its uniqueness and beauty. There is still so much to discover and explore behind the main popular sightseeing places.
After years of working and traveling in the area, I collected all my favorite places in this tour combining the main sightseeing and the less known and ‘behind the doors’ Uzbekistan is much more than blue domes and ancient trade centers.
The real heart of its people and culture is behind the muddy walls, in the courtyard of family houses, through the desert, and through the stories of its people. This is what we will try to discover on this trip. Get a deeper connection with places, people, traditions, and cultural aspects. We will spend time in cities and in rural areas, we will have dinners in local traditional restaurants and picnic while trekking through the rural Nurata valleys. We will immerse visit museums and fortresses in the desert.
A small group will allow us to do this and much more in an easy and low-impact way for local people and the environment.
We will not try to squeeze in as much as we can but we will allow time to slow down, immerse ourselves as much as we can in the place and its past and present, we will take opportunities when they come, and change plans when it is needed.
We will go with the flow but without skipping the main sightseeing places.
I designed this tour with responsible tourism in mind. This is why we will…
Stay in family-run guesthouses and homestay
eat at family houses and traditional, local cafes
buy local products and artifacts from local masters after meeting them
use local transport and trains to reduce our emissions
Spend time with different local guides
Use filtering bottles and reusable dishes to reduce our waste