Plov, Camels and Castles: Uzbekistan for Families

Your driver meets you at Tashkent airport and takes you to the hotel. After a rest, an easy evening at Magic City park, with its lake and fairy-tale castle, and a family welcome dinner.

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

   • Local SIM card with mobile data handed over on arrival

2. 18:00Evening walk at Magic City park (about 1 h 30 min)

   • The lake and the musical fountain light up after dark

3. 19:30Welcome dinner

A morning in the old town, with Chorsu Bazaar to taste dried fruit and fresh bread, then a metro ride where children spot cosmonauts, cotton flowers and chandeliers. Lunch is plov cooked in giant cauldrons, and the afternoon is free.

1. 09:30Khast-Imam ensemble (45 min)

   • The courtyard and the library with one of the oldest Qurans

2. 10:30Chorsu Bazaar (1 h)

   • Tasting dried fruit, nuts, halva and bread from the tandir

3. 11:45Metro station-hopping (1 h)

   • Kosmonavtlar, Alisher Navoiy and Mustaqillik Maydoni stations, with a spot-the-detail game

4. 13:00Lunch at the Central Asian Plov Centre (at own expense)

   • Watch plov cooked in cauldrons for hundreds of people

5. Afternoon at leisure

   • Rest at the hotel, or the Tashkent TV Tower on request

The Afrosiyob train covers the 340 km to Samarkand in about two and a half hours. After lunch, your guide leads a treasure hunt around the Registan, with clues hidden in the tilework, and a visit to Timur's mausoleum.

1. 07:00Transfer from the hotel to Tashkent North station

2. 07:55Afrosiyob train Tashkent – Samarkand (about 2 h 30 min)

   • Train 768Ф from Tashkent North (Central) station. Times change with the season and are confirmed when we book

3. 10:25Arrival, transfer to the hotel and rest

4. 13:00Lunch (at own expense)

5. 15:00Treasure hunt on the Registan (1 h 30 min)

   • Find the tigers on Sher-Dor and the stars on the Ulugh Beg madrasah

6. 16:45Gur-e-Amir, the mausoleum of Amir Timur (45 min)

In Konigil village, children help make paper from mulberry bark at a working mill by a stream. Then the observatory where Ulugh Beg mapped the stars, the blue lane of Shah-i-Zinda and a picnic-style lunch.

1. 09:00Meros paper mill in Konigil (1 h 30 min)

   • Hands-on: stripping bark, pressing a sheet and polishing it with a stone

2. 10:45Ulugh Beg Observatory (45 min)

   • How a fifteenth-century prince measured the year almost to the minute

3. 12:00Lunch

4. 13:30Rest at the hotel

5. 16:00Shah-i-Zinda necropolis (1 h)

6. 17:15Siab Bazaar (45 min)

   • Closed on Mondays: on a Monday we stop at the bazaar on day 3 after Gur-e-Amir instead

A drive of about four hours, with a break, brings you to a yurt camp in the Kyzylkum near Lake Aydarkul. Camel ride, a short drive to the lake and, in the evening, dinner by the campfire with songs from a local musician. Nights are cool, and the stars are bright.

1. 10:00Drive Samarkand – yurt camp (about 4 h with a break)

2. 14:00Arrival, lunch at the camp (at own expense) and rest

3. 16:30Camel ride (about 30 min)

   • Children ride with a camel handler leading

4. 17:30Short drive to the shore of Lake Aydarkul and sunset

   • The camps are a little way from the water. Swimming in the lake in warm months

5. 19:30Dinner around the campfire with folk songs

   • Shared washrooms and hot showers at the camp

Morning in Nurata, where children feed the sacred fish in the spring pool and climb to the old fortress. On the way to Bukhara, a family of potters in Gijduvan lets everyone try the wheel.

1. 09:00Drive to Nurata (about 1 h 30 min)

2. 10:30Chashma spring and the sacred fish, fortress ruins (1 h)

3. 11:45Lunch in Nurata (at own expense)

4. 12:45Drive to Gijduvan (about 2 h 30 min)

5. 15:15Pottery workshop in Gijduvan (1 h 15 min)

   • Hands-on at the potter's wheel

6. 16:45Drive to Bukhara (about 1 h) and check-in

A short morning walk through the old town: the Ark, where the emirs lived, the minaret that guided caravans, and the domed bazaars. After lunch and a rest, a puppet-making workshop near Lyabi-Hauz, and an evening folklore show.

1. 09:00Old Bukhara for families (about 3 h)

   • Ark Fortress
   • Bolo-Hauz Mosque
   • Poi-Kalyan ensemble and the Kalyan Minaret
   • The trading domes and Lyabi-Hauz
   • The museums inside the Ark are reported to close on Wednesdays: on a Wednesday the mornings of days 7 and 8 are swapped

2. 12:00Lunch (at own expense) and rest

3. 16:00Puppet workshop (1 h 30 min)

   • See puppets carved and painted, and make a simple one to take home

4. 19:00Dinner and folklore show at the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasah

The summer palace of the last emir, where peacocks roam the gardens, and Chor-Minor with its four turquoise towers. In the afternoon the family cooks plov with a local chef, then eats it together.

1. 09:30Sitorai Mohi-Hosa, the emir's summer palace (1 h 15 min)

   • Peacocks in the gardens

2. 11:00Chor-Minor (30 min)

3. 12:30Plov cooking class and lunch (about 2 h)

   • Everyone gets a job: chopping, stirring, tasting

4. Afternoon at leisure

   • Pool or free time in the old town

Transfer to Bukhara airport for a flight to Tashkent and your onward connection, or for a direct international flight from Bukhara.

1. Transfer to Bukhara airport (about 20 min)

   • Timed to your flight

2. Flight Bukhara – Tashkent (about 1 h 15 min) and connection to your international flight