Khorezm and the Aral Sea

Khiva is as far west as most journeys through Uzbekistan go. This one begins beyond it. Karakalpakstan is the western third of the country, and it is usually offered, when it is offered at all, as an extension: a few days added to the end of a longer route. We think it stands on its own. A museum, a vanished sea, walls raised about two thousand years ago and a walled town at the end: seven days give each of them its due, and the distances between them are part of the point.

We say plainly what it asks of you. The hotels in Nukus are simple. The road north to Muynak is about three hours each way, and beyond Muynak it is unpaved. The water itself is further still: a long day across the Ustyurt plateau and a night in a camp on the shore. This itinerary turns back at Muynak. Your travel designer can add that day and night if you want them. The yurt camp below Ayaz-Kala is a bed, a fire and dinner, and nothing else for a long way in any direction. What you are given in return is attention: almost no one comes this far west, and the paintings, the seabed and the fortress walls are each taken without a crowd.

Khiva is the last stop before the flight home, and any route that reaches Khiva can begin here. Taken alone it is a week. Taken first, it goes on: across the Kyzylkum to Bukhara, then by train to Samarkand, so that the far west is the opening week of a longer journey rather than a footnote to it. A private guide is with you from the airport and a car with driver throughout. The flights, the hotels and the camp are booked before you leave home. Tell us your dates and interests, and a day-by-day proposal follows within one working day.