11 days · Tashkent · Khiva · Bukhara · Nurata and Aydarkul · …

The Grand Journey across Uzbekistan

The whole country in eleven days: all four Silk Road cities, a night in a yurt beside Lake Aydarkul and a day in Shakhrisabz, the town where Timur was born.

Duration
11 days
Route
Tashkent → Khiva → Bukhara → Nurata and Aydarkul → Samarkand → Shakhrisabz → Tashkent
Best season
April–June, September–October
From
Price on request

Most first journeys to Uzbekistan ask you to choose between the cities. This one does not. Eleven days is enough for all four Silk Road towns, taken in the order the road itself suggests, from west to east: Khiva first, small and walled, then Bukhara, then Samarkand, with the desert and a night in a yurt between them. Tashkent opens and closes the journey. Everything that matters happens in between.

The days have a rhythm. Two nights in Khiva, two in Bukhara, three in Samarkand, so that each city has a morning without a plan. The drive across the Kyzylkum is long, and meant to be. A town approached by land arrives more slowly, and the Amu Darya is worth the stop. At Aydarkul the evening belongs to a camel, a fire and a sky with nothing in front of it. Shakhrisabz, over the pass from Samarkand, is a quieter day: the surviving portal of Timur’s palace, and the road back through the hills.

A private guide in your language is with you in every city, and your travel designer in Tashkent stays a message away. The trains, the flight, the hotels and the desert camp are arranged before you land and then left unmentioned. If you would rather add a day in the Fergana Valley or stay longer in Bukhara, say so. This route is where we begin.

Day by day

  1. 01
    Day 1

    Arrival in Tashkent

    Your private guide meets you at the airport. The afternoon is given to the old city: the Hazrati Imam complex, Chorsu Bazaar and a few stations of the metro.

  2. 02
    Day 2

    Fly to Khiva

    A morning flight to Urgench, then a short drive to Khiva. A first walk inside Itchan Kala towards evening, when the lanes are quiet.

  3. 03
    Day 3

    Khiva

    A whole day inside the walled town, taken slowly, ending with sunset over the minarets.

  4. 04
    Day 4

    Across the Kyzylkum to Bukhara

    A day’s drive across the Kyzylkum desert, with a stop on the bank of the Amu Darya. Bukhara by evening.

  5. 05
    Day 5

    Bukhara

    A day on foot: the Ark, Po-i-Kalyan, the trading domes and the evening at Lyabi-Hauz.

  6. 06
    Day 6

    Bukhara to a desert yurt

    Drive to Nurata and on to a yurt camp beside Lake Aydarkul. A camel ride towards dusk and a night under the desert sky.

  7. 07
    Day 7

    Nurata to Samarkand

    The Chashma spring at Nurata in the morning, then the road to Samarkand and a first sight of the Registan.

  8. 08
    Day 8

    Samarkand

    The Registan, Gur-e-Amir, Shah-i-Zinda and Bibi-Khanym, with time to sit still in each.

  9. 09
    Day 9

    Day trip to Shakhrisabz

    Over the Takhtakaracha pass to the town where Timur was born and the ruins of his Ak-Saray palace. Back in Samarkand for the evening.

  10. 10
    Day 10

    Train to Tashkent

    A free morning in Samarkand, then the high-speed train to Tashkent.

  11. 11
    Day 11

    Departure

    Transfer to the airport.

What is included

  • Ten nights, in hotels and one night in a yurt camp, with breakfast
  • All transfers
  • Domestic flight and train tickets
  • A private guide in your language
  • Entrance fees on the programme

Not included

  • International flights
  • Lunches and dinners
  • Travel insurance
  • Tips
The mud-brick walls and minarets of Itchan Kala in Khiva, seen from the rampartsAdam Harangozó · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Kalyan minaret in Bukhara, its brick bands lit by afternoon sunMaksimsokolov · CC BY-SA 4.0
The three madrasas of the Registan in Samarkand at dawn, before the square fillsKraftabbas · CC BY-SA 4.0
Destinations

Destinations

All destinations
Tashkent from above at sunset, a great tiled dome and minarets rising over the rooftops of the city.
Plane trees and the oldest Qur’anTashkent
The three madrasas of the Registan in Samarkand at first light, the square still empty.Kraftabbas · CC BY-SA 4.0
Blue domes over Timur’s capitalSamarkand
The Kalyan minaret in Bukhara seen from the square below, its brick bands lit by afternoon sun.Maksimsokolov · CC BY-SA 4.0
Two thousand years, on footBukhara
The mud-brick walls of Itchan Kala in Khiva under a clear sky.Adam Harangozó · CC BY-SA 4.0
A whole town inside its wallsKhiva
Timur’s birthplace, beyond the passShakhrisabz
A spring, a desert, a lakeNurata and Aydarkul
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The three madrasas of the Registan in Samarkand at first light, the square still empty.Kraftabbas · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Begin

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