Twelve Gates of the Silk Road

Your driver meets you at Tashkent airport and takes you to the hotel. Rooms are available from 14:00. In the evening, a welcome dinner with your guide and a briefing on the days ahead.

1. Meet-and-greet at Tashkent airport and transfer to the hotel

   • Local SIM card with mobile data handed over on arrival

2. 19:00Welcome dinner and trip briefing

A full day in the capital: the Khast-Imam ensemble in the old town, Chorsu Bazaar, the decorated stations of the metro and the main squares of the Soviet and modern city.

1. 09:00Khast-Imam ensemble (1 h 30 min)

   • Barak Khan Madrasah, Tilla-Sheikh Mosque, Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum
   • The library that keeps the Uthman Quran

2. 10:45Chorsu Bazaar and the Kukeldash Madrasah (1 h 15 min)

3. 12:30Lunch (at own expense)

   • Plov at the Central Asian Plov Centre is a local favourite

4. 14:00Ride on the Tashkent metro (45 min)

   • Kosmonavtlar, Alisher Navoiy and Mustaqillik Maydoni stations

5. 15:00Museum of Applied Arts (1 h)

6. 16:15Amir Timur Square, Independence Square and the Courage Monument

A scenic drive over the Kamchik Pass into the Fergana Valley, about four hours to Kokand. You visit the tiled palace of Khudayar Khan, then the ceramic workshops of Rishtan, before continuing to Fergana for the night.

1. 07:30Drive Tashkent – Kokand over the Kamchik Pass (about 4 h)

   • Photo stop at the pass, 2,268 m
   • Passport check at the valley checkpoint: keep your passport handy

2. 11:30Khudayar Khan Palace and the Juma Mosque of Kokand (1 h 30 min)

3. 13:15Lunch in Kokand

4. 14:30Drive to Rishtan (about 45 min)

5. 15:15Rishtan ceramics workshop (1 h 30 min)

   • Clay, brushwork and the alkaline turquoise glaze made from local plants

6. 17:00Drive to Fergana (about 1 h)

Margilan has woven silk for centuries. At the Yodgorlik factory you follow the whole process, from simmering cocoons to the ikat looms, then walk the local bazaar and the old Said Akhmad Khoja madrasah. The afternoon is free in Fergana.

1. 09:00Drive to Margilan (about 25 min)

2. 09:30Yodgorlik silk factory (1 h 30 min)

   • Cocoons, reeling, ikat dyeing and hand looms. Reported to close on Sundays: on a Sunday we visit a family ikat workshop in Margilan instead

3. 11:15Margilan bazaar (1 h)

   • On Thursdays and Sundays, the Kumtepa bazaar outside town instead

4. 12:30Said Akhmad Khoja madrasah (30 min)

5. 13:15Lunch (at own expense) and return to Fergana

6. Afternoon at leisure

The longest travel day of the trip. Back over the Kamchik Pass to Tashkent by car, about five hours with a stop, an afternoon in the capital with your driver, then the evening Afrosiyob train to Samarkand, arriving after ten at night. The next morning starts later.

1. 09:00Drive Fergana – Tashkent over the Kamchik Pass (about 5 h with a stop)

   • Passport check at the valley checkpoint: keep your passport handy

2. 14:00Late lunch in Tashkent (at own expense)

3. 15:30Afternoon in Tashkent with your driver

   • Your luggage stays in the car. Ideas: the Minor Mosque, the Amir Timur Museum or a café in the centre (entrance fees at own expense)

4. 18:30Early dinner near the station (at own expense)

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

   • Train 772Ф from Tashkent North (Central) station. Times change with the season and are confirmed when we book

6. 22:13Arrival in Samarkand and transfer to the hotel

The great monuments of Timur's capital: the three madrasahs of the Registan, the mausoleum of Timur, the vast mosque of Bibi-Khanym and the avenue of blue-tiled tombs at Shah-i-Zinda.

1. 09:30Registan Square (1 h 30 min)

   • Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori madrasahs

2. 11:15Gur-e-Amir, the mausoleum of Amir Timur (45 min)

3. 12:15Bibi-Khanym Mosque (45 min)

4. 13:15Lunch (at own expense)

5. 15:00Shah-i-Zinda necropolis (1 h 30 min)

6. 20:00Optional: the Registan lit up at night

A morning with the Ulugh Beg Observatory, the Siab Bazaar and the paper mill at Konigil, then a drive north into the Kyzylkum to a yurt camp near Lake Aydarkul, about four hours. A short camel ride, sunset over the desert and dinner around the fire.

1. 09:00Ulugh Beg Observatory (45 min)

2. 10:00Siab Bazaar (45 min)

   • Closed on Mondays: on that day we visit the Afrasiab Museum instead

3. 11:00Meros paper mill in Konigil (1 h)

   • Paper made from mulberry bark

4. 12:15Lunch (at own expense)

5. 13:15Drive to the yurt camp near Lake Aydarkul (about 4 h)

   • Via the Nuratau foothills

6. 17:30Camel ride (about 30 min) and sunset over the desert

   • Timed to sunset

7. 19:30Dinner around the campfire, with folk songs from a local musician

   • Shared washrooms and hot showers at the camp; nights are cool even in summer

An optional morning drive to the shore of Lake Aydarkul, then Nurata with its sacred spring and the ruined fortress attributed to Alexander the Great. On the way to Bukhara you stop at a family ceramics workshop in Gijduvan, arriving in the early evening after a long day on the road.

1. 07:30Breakfast at the camp

2. 08:00Optional: drive to the shore of Lake Aydarkul (about 30 min each way)

   • Swimming in the warm months

3. 09:45Drive to Nurata along the Nuratau foothills (about 1 h 30 min)

4. 11:15Chashma spring, the sacred fish pool and the fortress ruins (1 h)

5. 12:30Lunch in Nurata (at own expense)

6. 13:30Drive to Gijduvan (about 2 h 30 min)

7. 16:00Gijduvan ceramics workshop (1 h)

8. 17:00Drive to Bukhara (about 1 h) and check-in

A walking day through the holy city: Lyabi-Hauz, the domed bazaars, the Poi-Kalyan ensemble, the Ark and the Samanid Mausoleum, ending with a folklore show and dinner in a seventeenth-century madrasah.

1. 09:00Old Bukhara walking tour, morning (about 3 h 30 min)

   • Lyabi-Hauz and the 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 (at own expense)

3. 14:30Ark Fortress, Bolo-Hauz Mosque, Samanid Mausoleum and Chashma-Ayub (2 h 30 min)

   • The museums inside the Ark are reported to close on Wednesdays; on that day the guide replaces it with the Fayzulla Khodjaev house

4. 17:15Chor-Minor, the gatehouse with four towers

5. 19:00Folklore show and dinner at the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah

A day's drive across the Kyzylkum desert to Khiva, about six to seven hours with stops, following the Amu Darya for part of the way. Arrival in time for sunset on the walls of Ichan-Kala.

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

   • Water on board; mobile signal is weak for part of the route

2. 12:30Lunch at a roadside café (at own expense)

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 full day inside Ichan-Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva: the Kunya-Ark citadel, the Kalta-Minor, the Juma Mosque with its forest of carved columns and the majolica courtyards of Tash-Hauli. A farewell dinner in the evening.

1. 09:00Ichan-Kala walking tour, morning (about 3 h)

   • Kunya-Ark citadel
   • Kalta-Minor minaret and the Muhammad Amin Khan madrasah
   • Juma Mosque

2. 12:00Lunch (at own expense)

3. 14:30Ichan-Kala, afternoon (about 2 h)

   • Tash-Hauli Palace
   • Pakhlavan Makhmud Mausoleum
   • Islam-Khoja Minaret

4. Late afternoon at leisure

5. 19:00Farewell dinner

Transfer to Urgench airport, 40 minutes from Khiva, for the 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) and connection to your international flight