Uzbekistan Desert Discovery

Our journey begins in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. As many flights arrive late this evening or in the early hours, there are no planned activities today. If you’d like extra time in the city, you can arrange pre–tour hotel nights through your sales representative.

Meet your tour leader and fellow travellers this morning as we gather to get to know one another and hear about the journey ahead. Late morning, we explore the capital – Independence Square with its public buildings and fountains, and the Old City with mausoleums and a bustling bazaar. Much of Tashkent was rebuilt after 1960s earthquakes in Soviet style, with leafy boulevards and cooling fountains, and there are engaging museums and mosques to discover. This evening we enjoy a welcome dinner at a local restaurant before returning to our hotel. Some flights arrive very early today – you may have a few hours to rest before the city tour.

This morning we take the high–speed train to Samarkand (around 2 hours 15 minutes). A jewel of the Silk Road, Samarkand dazzles with sights: we visit the exquisite jade mausoleum of Gur–i–Emir, resting place of Tamerlane, his sons and his grandson Ulugbek; the majestic Registan Square with its domes, minarets, mosques and madrassas; and the grand Bibi Khanum Mosque. Samarkand remains a hub for textiles, carpets and art – you can test your bargaining skills in the bazaar.

We continue our discovery of Samarkand, taking in Ulugbek Observatory, the Shahi–Zinda necropolis with its gloriously decorated mausoleums, and Siab bazaar. We also enjoy a masterclass in making and painting ceramics, and a demonstration of silk–paper production using medieval techniques in the village of Konigil.

This morning is free in Samarkand for shopping or further exploration – you can wander at will. In the afternoon we drive about 4 hours 30 minutes to the Nurata Mountains through the Jizzakh Region. Our destination is the ancient mountain village of Sentyab, set in a fertile river valley. We take a scenic walk to explore, then join our hosts to cook a traditional dish.

We hike for two–three hours this morning to the ruins of an ancient village, where homes were once built from flat stone. After lunch at the homestay, we drive west for around three hours to the Kyzylkum Desert to stay at a simple yurt camp. On arrival, we stroll near the camp to get acquainted with the desert flora and fauna. After dinner, we gather around a bonfire to hear a traditional folk musician perform with a dombra.

After breakfast you can take an optional short ride on two–humped Bactrian camels, then we continue to Aydarkul, a vast lake more than 125 miles/200 km long, fringed by the sands and dunes of the Kyzylkum Desert. We relax and swim from the sandy beach before returning to the yurt camp for lunch. In the afternoon we drive towards Navoi, stopping after about an hour in the pilgrimage town of Nur for a short look around, then continue for roughly two hours to Navoi to board a sleeper train around 8.30pm to Kungrad, arriving at approximately 9.30am tomorrow.

We arrive in Kungrad and into the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan whose people have a culture and language closer to the Kazakhs than the Uzbeks. Once agriculturally prosperous, Karakalpakstan now suffers from drought – the Amu Darya River, which once flowed into the Aral Sea, was diverted by Soviet–era irrigation, contributing to the sea’s dramatic shrinkage. We drive about two hours on a bumpy road to Moynaq, formerly a busy fishing port, where rusting boats now sit on the dry seabed in a stark, lunar–like landscape and we visit the small museum. Conditions can be dusty, temperatures high and air quality poor. We then continue for around three hours to Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, for the night.

This morning we visit the Savitsky Museum, home to a renowned collection of Soviet avant–garde art, artefacts of ancient Khorezm and exhibits on Karakalpak culture. Leaving Nukus, we stop at the Mizdakhkan necropolis before beginning the roughly six–hour drive to Khiva. En route we also visit the Zoroastrian Chilpik dakhma and the ancient Ayaz–Kala fortress, and we enjoy dinner at a yurt camp before the final leg to Khiva.

We devote the day to Khiva’s Ichan Kala, the inner fortress and a World Heritage Site. As we wander this open–air museum–city, we see the tile–clad Kalta Minor minaret, Kunya Ark Fortress – former residence of the khans – the complex of Pahlavan Mahmud, Islam Khoja minaret and madrasa, Juma Mosque, and the palaces of Tash Khauli and Allakuli Khan. We also visit artisans’ workshops to see the making of Khiva wool and silk carpets, embroidery, ceramics and wood inlay.

Today we travel by train across the Kyzylkum Desert from Khiva to Bukhara – usually with a free morning in Khiva before an early–afternoon departure. The Soviet–era train has four–berth compartments and the journey takes around eight hours. On arrival, Bukhara’s old town beckons with more than 900 historic monuments – we begin exploring key sights and you can also wander the atmospheric streets at leisure.

We spend the day uncovering Bukhara’s highlights: the Ark Fortress, where in the 19th century the Emir imprisoned and executed the British officers Stoddart and Connolly; the exquisite 10th–century mausoleum of Ismail Samani; the Emir’s rather kitsch Summer Palace; the old town with its domed bazaars and khauz, once the city’s sole water supply; and the charming 12th–century Char Minar. We also admire the Kalyan minaret – long known as the ‘death tower’ in local lore.

We continue our tour of Bukhara this morning before boarding a high–speed afternoon train to Tashkent. On arrival this evening we transfer to our hotel, and you have the remainder of the night to relax.

Today we take a day trip from Tashkent to Ugam–Chatkal National Park in the Chimgan mountains, including a visit to the Amirsai resort and a cable–car ascent to an observation point at about 7,545 ft/2,300 m, with views of the snow–capped Tien Shan, the Charvak reservoir and its hydroelectric dam. We also visit the Sun heliocomplex at Parkent – a gigantic solar furnace built in the 1980s – which remains in use.

Our journey ends after breakfast in Tashkent. If you’d like to explore further, you can speak to your sales representative about extending your stay.