Silk Road in Silk: Private Uzbekistan

You are met at Tashkent airport, with fast-track arrival service where your flight allows, and driven to a hotel day room for lunch and a rest. After an early welcome dinner in Tashkent, the evening Afrosiyob train takes you to Samarkand in VIP or business class, arriving after ten at night.

1. Arrival at Tashkent International Airport

   • Meet-and-greet at the aircraft exit or arrivals hall, fast-track through formalities where available
   • Local SIM card with mobile data handed over on arrival

2. Day room, lunch and rest in Tashkent

   • A day room at a Tashkent hotel is held for you until the evening train
   • Lunch at your own expense

3. 18:00Early welcome dinner in Tashkent

4. 19:20Transfer to Tashkent North station

   • Afrosiyob trains leave from Tashkent North (Central) station

5. 19:48Afrosiyob train Tashkent – Samarkand (about 2 h 25 min)

   • Train 772Ф, VIP or business class depending on availability. If your flight lands before 05:00, we can book a morning Afrosiyob instead (07:30 or 08:30) and you reach Samarkand by mid-morning. Times change with the season and are confirmed when we book

6. 22:13Arrival in Samarkand and check-in

   • Your driver meets you on the platform

The Registan in the soft morning light, before the crowds, then the city Timur built for himself: Gur-e-Amir, Bibi-Khanym and the Siab Bazaar. Lunch is followed by a rest at the hotel and a late-afternoon visit to Shah-i-Zinda, when the tiles glow. After dark, the Registan floodlit.

1. 08:30Registan Square (about 1 h 30 min)

   • Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori madrasahs
   • The gilded prayer hall of Tilya-Kori

2. 10:15Gur-e-Amir, the mausoleum of Amir Timur (45 min)

   • The ribbed dome and the gilded interior over the cenotaphs

3. 11:15Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Siab Bazaar (1 h 15 min)

   • Siab Bazaar is closed on Mondays; on a Monday the bazaar moves to the morning of day 3

4. 13:00Lunch, then rest at the hotel

5. 16:30Shah-i-Zinda necropolis (1 h 30 min)

   • The avenue of blue-tiled mausoleums in late-afternoon light

6. 20:30Evening walk to the floodlit Registan

   • Your driver takes you there and back; your trip manager can reserve a table for dinner

A morning of crafts and science: the Ulugh Beg Observatory, a paper mill in Konigil where mulberry bark is still beaten into paper, and a workshop where silk carpets are knotted by hand. In the evening, dinner in a historic courtyard with musicians playing classical maqom.

1. 09:00Ulugh Beg Observatory and museum (1 h)

   • The surviving arc of the fifteenth-century sextant

2. 10:15Afrasiab hill and the Tomb of Saint Daniel (1 h)

3. 11:30Meros paper mill in Konigil village (1 h 15 min)

   • Watch paper made from mulberry bark, from the soaking vats to the polishing stone

4. 13:00Lunch in Konigil or back in town

5. 15:00Hand-knotted silk carpet workshop (1 h)

   • Dyeing, knotting and finishing, with no obligation to buy

6. Afternoon at leisure

7. 19:30Courtyard dinner with live classical maqom music

   • A private performance by local musicians, arranged for your party

A private drive across the Zarafshan valley to Bukhara, about four and a half hours with stops. In Gijduvan you visit a family of potters known for their brown and ochre glazes and the memorial complex of the Sufi master Abdulkhaliq Gijduvani. Arrival in Bukhara in time for a first walk to Lyabi-Hauz.

1. 09:30Private drive Samarkand – Gijduvan (about 3 h 30 min)

   • A tea stop on the way

2. 13:00Gijduvan ceramics workshop and lunch with the potter's family (1 h 30 min)

3. 14:45Abdulkhaliq Gijduvani memorial complex (30 min)

4. 15:30Drive Gijduvan – Bukhara (about 1 h)

5. 17:00Check-in and an evening walk to Lyabi-Hauz

A walking day through a living old town, at your pace and with long pauses in the shade. You cross the domed bazaars to the Poi-Kalyan ensemble and the Ark, and end the afternoon on a rooftop facing the Kalyan Minaret as the lights come on.

1. 08:30Old Bukhara walking tour (about 4 h)

   • Lyabi-Hauz and the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah
   • Magoki-Attori Mosque
   • The trading domes of the old bazaar
   • Poi-Kalyan: Kalyan Minaret, Kalyan Mosque and Mir-i-Arab Madrasah
   • Ulugh Beg and Abdulaziz Khan madrasahs

2. 12:30Lunch, then rest at the hotel

3. 16:00Ark Fortress, Bolo-Hauz Mosque and the Samanid Mausoleum (2 h)

   • The museums inside the Ark are reported to close on Wednesdays; on a Wednesday the Ark moves to the morning of day 6 and this afternoon goes to the Samanid park and Chashma-Ayub

4. 18:30Sunset on a rooftop facing the Kalyan Minaret

   • Tea or a drink as the minaret is lit. Timed to sunset: about 18:00 in October, 19:30 in May

Outside the city walls, the summer palace of the last emirs and the shrine of Bahauddin Naqshband, the most venerated place in Bukhara. In the afternoon you meet embroiderers at a suzani workshop, with an optional visit to a historic hammam, and dine in the courtyard of the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah with a folklore show.

1. 09:00Sitorai Mohi-Hosa, summer palace of the last emirs (1 h 15 min)

2. 10:45Bahauddin Naqshband memorial complex (1 h)

   • Modest dress: shoulders and knees covered, a scarf for women

3. 12:15Chor-Bakr necropolis (45 min)

4. 13:30Lunch in a house-museum or a courtyard restaurant

5. 15:30Suzani embroidery workshop (1 h)

6. Optional: a traditional hammam in the old town

   • Booked for your party at extra cost

7. 19:00Dinner and folklore show at the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah

A long but easy day by private car across the Kyzylkum desert, about six to seven hours with stops. You pause at the Amu Darya, where the road meets the river that once marked the edge of the known world, and stop for a picnic lunch prepared by the hotel. Arrival in Khiva in time to see the walls turn gold.

1. 08:30Private drive Bukhara – Khiva (about 6–7 h with stops)

   • Air-conditioned car or minivan, water and snacks on board
   • Mobile signal is weak for part of the route

2. 12:30Picnic lunch in the desert

3. 14:00Viewpoint over the Amu Darya

4. 16:00Arrival in Khiva and check-in

5. 18:00Sunset from the walls of Ichan-Kala

A day inside the best-preserved walled town of Central Asia, with a guide who knows its houses as well as its monuments. Palaces lined with majolica, the forest of carved columns in the Juma Mosque and, for those who want it, the climb up the Islam-Khoja Minaret.

1. 08:30Ichan-Kala walking tour, morning (about 3 h 30 min)

   • Kunya-Ark citadel and its summer mosque
   • Kalta-Minor minaret
   • Muhammad Amin Khan madrasah
   • Juma Mosque and its carved wooden columns

2. 12:30Lunch, then rest at the hotel

3. 16:00Ichan-Kala, afternoon (about 2 h)

   • Tash-Hauli Palace and its harem
   • Pakhlavan Makhmud Mausoleum
   • Islam-Khoja Minaret, optional climb

4. Evening at leisure

A morning drive across the Amu Darya into the desert north-east of Khiva, to the mud-brick fortresses of ancient Khorezm, some two thousand years old. Lunch in the yurt camp below Ayaz-Kala, then a free afternoon in Khiva.

1. 08:30Drive to Toprak-Kala, crossing the Amu Darya (about 1 h 45 min)

2. 10:15Toprak-Kala palace ruins (45 min)

3. 11:15Ayaz-Kala fortresses (1 h)

   • A 20-minute uphill walk on sand to the upper fortress

4. 12:30Lunch in the yurt camp at Ayaz-Kala

5. 14:00Drive back to Khiva (about 2 h)

6. Afternoon at leisure

   • Shopping for carved wood and silk, or a rest at the hotel

A last morning in Khiva, then the 40-minute drive to Urgench airport for a flight to Tashkent and your onward connection.

1. Transfer Khiva – Urgench airport (about 40 min)

   • Timed to your flight

2. Flight Urgench – Tashkent (about 1 h 30 min)

   • Connection to your international flight; we can arrange a day room or a last afternoon in Tashkent