Mindful Travel in the Heart of the Silk Road

Arrival. Met by our local representative and head to the hotel (Check in 14:00). Breakfast is included.

This afternoon enjoy a city tour in the old part of the city: visit key sites as well as the gigantic Chorsu oriental bazaar to see a wonderful array of meats, nuts, fruit and other local delicacies.

Lunch in a famous plov restaurant (see the vagabrothers video on the right)

Continue your city tour in the modern part of the city: visiting the Museum of Art, Amir Temur Square, Broadway, Tashkent Metro, and Independence Square.

Dinner (included at a local restaurant or your hotel).

After breakfast take the high-speed train, Afrosiyob, to Samarkand departing at 08:00, arriving at 10:10 (300 km).

You’ll be met and will visit the Ulughbek Observatory, and visit the pottery workshop of beside the Siob River on the eastern wall of Afrosiyob, famous museum of the ancient city of Afrosiab.

Your guide will also show you the Bibi-Khonum Mosque, and market place.

After sightseeing you’ll get a chance to visit a traditional local house for a special lunch accompanied with the local red dry wine. Here you’ll have a cooking course so that you can learn how to prepare plov, and chat with your local hosts during the preparation and meal itself. (Alternatively you may also choose to visit a local restaurant.)

In the afternoon you’ll visit the famous architectural complex Shakhi-Zindeh (11—15th c.), Mausoleum Guri Emir -Tamerlane’s Tomb (14—15th c.). and Registan square:

Tonight you can choose to have a free dinner in the city or visit the local Platan Restaurant after which you can enjoy viewing “Samarkand by night”.

Today, after breakfast you’ll drive to the Nuratau Mountains (280km). Arrive and meet your hosts who will help you settle into your homestay in Sentob village. Explore the village and get to know the daily livelihood and activities of the mountain villagers.

Here, the focus is on socially responsible tourism through community-based ecotourism and homestays in the villages of the Nuratau-Kyzyl-Kum mountains of central Uzbekistan. Having seen how alpine tourism in other parts of the worlds can take more out of the communities than it gives back, this programme offers to give back, as well as allowing visitors to genuinely engage with the local communities rather than just passing through. Here you can do hiking & trekking tours, yurt camping, cultural and adventure tours.

Lunch, and dinner are prepared for you.

Overnight at guest house.

Today is a chance to stretch your legs in the clean fresh air of the mountains on a short morning trek.

For lunch you may help or participate with your hosts in the preparation of traditional meals.

This afternoon you will drive to Lake Aydarkul (120km) – an alpine lake. Depending on the season you may like to take a refreshing dip in the lake before getting settled into your yurt.

Try your hand at riding a Baktrian camel, before an evening aperitif under the stars and dinner around the campfire, with traditional music and songs by the Kazakh troubadour Akyn.

Fall asleep, in your comfortable yurt, where there are beds with matresses and pillows inclluding bedding. There are generally 4 – 6 to a yurt unless you wish to pay extra for a private one. After a day spent outside in the mountain air a good night’s sleep is guaranteed.

The yurt camp will have shower rooms and toilets.

After breakfast at the yurts, a morning drive takes you to Nurata, town. Visit the mosque with a pool of sacred fish, which local people believe are the spirit of their ancestors. Lunch is included en route. (Driving distance approx 260km)

Arrival in Bukhara in the afternoon.

Enjoy some free time in Bukhara Old Town, where you can visit the Souk bazaar or local hammam baths for a massage.

Overnight in the hotel with dinner at your leisure – or we can book a local restaurant.

Today is a full day excursion in Bukhara.

Visit the Jewish Quarter with Sinagogue and the special Poikalon

(XII—XVI c) architectural ensemble of “Masjidi Kalon”, “Miri Arab” madrasah and minaret Kalon (46 m).

Ulugbek Madrassah 1417 was the earliest of three commissioned by the enlightened Timurid ruler.

Also visit the trading Domes of the Silk Route including: Togi Zargaron, Togi Telpak furushon and Togi Saraffon Afghan trades. Tim Abdullakhan and one of the most elegant trade halls. Magoki Attori mosque, Labi-Hauz (XVI—XVII c) — a complex with Nodir — Devon Begi madrasa.

Rest during an included lunch in the city before continuing with viewing:

the magnificent fortress (VI — XIX c) — in the middle ages this was a whole town with the emir’s house, his wives’ quarters, mosques, mint, government institutes, store rooms, a prison and a square for public execution.

You’ll also see the Bolo Khous Ensemble, Samanid mausoleum – the (IXc) 1st brick building shaped as cube covered by dome with an unrepeatable geometrical brickwork design, and the Chashma Ayub Mausoleum.

Dinner at a local restaurant close to the Minaret.

Today you can choose between:

A 450km, 6-7-hour drive through the Kyzylkum Desert – Red Desert; Enjoy beautiful panoramic views of the Amudarya on the road with a picnic lunch included

OR

Travel from Bukhara to Khiva by train. The fast train from Bukhara to Khiva is fast and comfortable with a bistro carriage. Departure – 14:10, Arrival 19:11

Free for dinner or we can book a restaurant if preferred.

Khiva has been declared a “Museum-city under the open sky”, and is considered to be the best preserved Silk Route city in Central Asia.

Your city tour will take you around the historical centre of Khiva – all of which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

View: Kunya-Ark khan’s castle – the inner citadel of Ichan-Qala (16-17th cc.), Kalta Minor Tower (Short minaret) that would have become the biggest and tallest minaret in Central Asia (19th c.), Muhammad Amin-Khan – the biggest medieval medressa in Khiva (1845-1855 yy.), Djuma Mosque with 213 wooden columns and a minaret 32,5 m height (10th c.).

You are free for lunch at a local restaurant, followed by more sightseeeing: Tash-Hauli (Stone courtyard) palace looking like a fortress with a high battlement, towers and fortified gates (19th c.), Ak-Mosque (White Mosque) – a small mosque by the gates of Palvan-Darvaza (1838-1842), necropolis of Pahlavan Mahmud – the cultic center of Ichan-Qala (1810-1913 yy.), residence of Islam Khodja (1910 y.) – the Vizier (Minister) of the last khan.

This ensemble consists of the smallest medressa in Khiva and a minaret whose top platform has a height of 45 m and is the highest observation point in town.

Tonight you’ll have a traditional local dinner with Khorezm folk dances in an open air restaurant, accompanied by the local red dry wine and Uzbek vodka.

Todays drive is about 270km. On the way you’ll visit the archaeological monuments of Ancient Khorezm: Ayazkala and Toprak- Kala, the capital of Khorezm dating back to the 3rd century A.D.

Arrive in the city of Nukus. If it is open you’ll have a chance to visit the Savitsky Karakalpakstan Art Museum*. This world famous museum hosts the world’s second largest collection of Russian avant-garde art and exposition of Karakalpak applied arts items – rescued during the Soviet era to this out of the way place where they could be protected.

* Note the Savitsky Karakalpakstan Art Museum is closed on Mondays. Also due to renovations at Savitsky Museum, the archeological and applied arts exhibitions remain closed.

Early morning transfer with 4WD vehicles to the Aral Sea lake shore with sightseeing and photo stops en-route in Nukus and Kungrad towns. (360km drive in total today). Drive via Ustyurt Plateau to the Aral Sea. Visit Sudochie Lake and stop for a picnic lunch (included). The rich fauna of this lake is famous far beyond Karakalpakstan. Many scientists and fishing and hunting enthusiasts come to this place from all over the world. The lake is a crucial stop on the long migration path of birds: the pink flamingo, the white swans, the duck and others. Also visit the former Soviet gulag ‘Urga’.

The Aral Sea is the former fourth largest lake in the world bordering Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1960-s the construction of melioration canals for cotton irrigation from the Amu Darya River began, and the Aral Sea began to shrink. The area of the Aral Sea is rapidly decreasing. Towns and villages that were once seaports are now far away from the present coastline.

Photo stop in the Ustyurt Plateau to enjoy unusual landscapes before arriving in the yurt camp, located on the shores of the Aral Sea.

Here, while dinner is cooked over an open fire, travelers can enjoy hiking, relaxing at the camp, and exploring the milky way in the clear sky.

Dinner (included) and overnight in a yurt camp.

After a camp style breakfast drive to the former fisherman’s town of Muynaq (3 hrs) which used to be situated on the shores of the Aral Sea. In Muynak have a look at a former port with abandoned ships in the sand – now the “Cemetery of ships”.

Then visit Muynak History Museum with art exhibits of the Aral Sea history, about the Aral Sea disaster. This is ‘dark tourism’ and the death of the Sea is incredibly sad, but the locals are keen that their story should be heeded by others.

Lunch in Moynaq (included). Then drive to Nukus where you are free for dinner.

Transfer to the airport. Morning departure from Nukus. Arrival in Tashkent. Free time to explore the city some more, or visit the bazaar.

Farewell Dinner (included) in a restaurant with local red dry wine and Uzbek vodka.

Morning departure for your international flight or onward journey.