Uzbekistan: Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva on the Silk Road

1. Day 1: Arrive in Tashkent

   Tashkent International Airport to your hotel in Tashkent

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Tashkent
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Tashkent International Airport (TAS), only a short drive from the centre of the capital, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. Plan to land by about 4 pm to reach the evening briefing; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Tashkent was largely rebuilt after the 1966 earthquake, so its centre is wide Soviet boulevards, fountains and parks rather than an old town of mud brick, and it makes a calm first evening. If you arrive early, walk to Amir Timur Square or along the shady pedestrian street locals call Broadway. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the trip: how the trains work, what to wear at mosques and shrines, and how the days are paced. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of salads, bread from the tandoor and grilled shashlik at a local restaurant.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tashkent International Airport (TAS)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Old Tashkent, then the fast train to Samarkand

   Tashkent old city to Chorsu Bazaar, then Afrosiyob train to Samarkand

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Samarkand
   Day 2 details

   We start in the old city at the Khast Imam complex, Tashkent's religious centre, where the library holds the Uthman Quran, a manuscript traditionally dated to the 7th century and one of the oldest surviving copies. A few minutes away, Chorsu Bazaar fills a great tiled dome with bread, dried apricots, spices and pickles, and the busiest hour is the morning. Lunch is plov, the rice, carrot and lamb dish Tashkent cooks in huge cauldrons and eats at midday. Then we board the Afrosiyob high-speed train for Samarkand, 344 km away, about two to two and a half hours in reserved seats. Your bags go with us in our own vehicle to and from the stations. We check in to our hotel near the Registan and walk to Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timur, while the late sun warms its ribbed turquoise dome. At sunset we reach the Registan, three tiled madrasas around one square, and stay as the lights come on.

   Included

   • Khast Imam complex and the Uthman Quran with your guide
   • Chorsu Bazaar
   • Plov lunch in Tashkent
   • Afrosiyob high-speed train from Tashkent to Samarkand, reserved seats
   • Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timur, in late light
   • The Registan at sunset and after dark

   Free time: Evening free after the Registan

   Activity: The train time is set by the timetable and confirmed with your final itinerary. If it leaves early, we shorten the time at Chorsu Bazaar; if it leaves too early for the Khast Imam complex as well, your guide takes those with an afternoon or evening flight there on the morning of day 10.

   

3. Day 3: Shah-i-Zinda at opening and Samarkand before Timur

   Samarkand: Shah-i-Zinda, the Afrosiab Museum and Ulugbek's Observatory

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Samarkand
   Day 3 details

   We are at Shah-i-Zinda when it opens, before the coach groups, and climb the short stairway into an avenue of mausoleums, most from the 14th and 15th centuries, faced in turquoise, cobalt and carved glazed tile. It grew around the shrine believed to hold Qusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet, and it is still a place of pilgrimage, so we walk it quietly. Next door rises Afrosiab, the hill where Samarkand stood until the Mongols destroyed it in 1220. Its museum keeps a 7th-century wall painting of ambassadors arriving at a Sogdian court, a glimpse of the city long before Timur. A short drive on, the curved trench of Ulugbek's Observatory survives from the 1420s, when the ruler and astronomer Ulugbek charted more than a thousand stars from it. Lunch is home cooking with a Samarkand family. The afternoon is free: rest through the heat, or browse the craft shops.

   Included

   • Shah-i-Zinda at opening with your guide
   • The Afrosiab Museum and its 7th-century wall painting
   • Ulugbek's Observatory
   • Home-cooked lunch with a Samarkand family

   Easier option: Take the Shah-i-Zinda stairway at your own pace, then ride in our vehicle between the museum and the observatory, or go back to the hotel after the museum.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, walk out to the Tomb of Daniyar by the Siab river below Afrosiab hill, a shrine revered by Muslims, Christians and Jews.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot in the morning, with short flights of steps at Shah-i-Zinda. Covered shoulders and knees, and a scarf for women, at the shrine.

   

4. Day 4: The Registan inside, Bibi-Khanym and paper in Konigil

   Samarkand: the Registan, Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Siyob Bazaar, then Konigil village

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Samarkand
   Day 4 details

   Back at the Registan at opening, we walk into the three madrasas you saw lit two nights ago: Ulugbek's, from the 1420s, then Sher-Dor with its tiger-and-sun portal and Tilya-Kori with its gilded mosque, both from the 17th century. Early in the day the courtyards are quiet and the light is soft on the tiles. From there it is a short walk along a pedestrian street to Bibi-Khanym, the vast Friday mosque Timur built after his Indian campaign of 1398 to 1399, partly rebuilt since an earthquake brought down much of it. Next door, Siyob Bazaar sells Samarkand's round flat bread, nuts, dried fruit and halva. We then drive about twenty minutes to Konigil, a village on the river where craftspeople still make Samarkand paper from mulberry bark by hand, and you try a sheet yourself before lunch in the village. Back in town by mid-afternoon, the rest of the day is yours.

   Included

   • The Registan madrasas at opening: Ulugbek, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori
   • Bibi-Khanym Mosque
   • Siyob Bazaar
   • Paper-making workshop in Konigil village
   • Lunch in Konigil

   Optional experiences

   • A wine tasting at a Samarkand winery in the late afternoon, priced when you book

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on flat paving in the morning.

   

5. Day 5: Fast train to Bukhara and an evening at Lyabi-Hauz

   Samarkand to Bukhara by Afrosiyob train, then Bukhara old town

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Bukhara
   Day 5 details

   A slower start, then the Afrosiyob train west to Bukhara, about one and a half to two hours across cotton fields and the edge of the desert. Bukhara's station is in Kagan, about 15 km out, and our vehicle takes us into the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993 and lower and quieter than Samarkand, built of fawn brick around ponds and covered markets. Lunch is free near our hotel. In the afternoon, with the heat easing, your guide walks you through the centre: Lyabi-Hauz, the 17th-century pool under old mulberry trees, with the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasa and its tiled birds; the domed trading halls where jewellers and cap-makers once worked and craftspeople still sell; the sunken Magoki-Attari mosque; and the facing madrasas of Ulugbek and Abdulaziz Khan. We end at Chor Minor, a little gatehouse with four turquoise-capped towers. The evening is free: Lyabi-Hauz is where Bukhara comes out to eat.

   Included

   • Afrosiyob high-speed train from Samarkand to Bukhara, reserved seats
   • Lyabi-Hauz and the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasa with your guide
   • The trading domes
   • Magoki-Attari mosque
   • Ulugbek and Abdulaziz Khan madrasas
   • Chor Minor

   Optional experiences

   • A traditional hammam in the old town in the evening, priced when you book

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot in the afternoon on flat lanes.

6. Day 6: Bukhara from the Samanids to the emirs

   Bukhara: Ismail Samani, the Ark and the Po-i-Kalyan

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bukhara
   Day 6 details

   We go out early to the park west of the old town while it is cool. The Ismail Samani Mausoleum, built in the 10th century, is one of the oldest buildings in Central Asia, a cube of brick laid in patterns so fine the walls look woven, and it is said to have survived the Mongols because it lay half buried in sand. Then on to the Chashma-Ayub shrine over a spring, a few minutes away, and about a kilometre east to the Bolo-Hauz mosque facing the Ark, whose porch stands on slender wooden columns reflected in its pool. Then we climb the ramp into the Ark, the fortress where Bukhara's emirs ruled until 1920. After a sit-down lunch the afternoon is free. When the light turns gold we meet at the Po-i-Kalyan: the Kalyan Minaret, built in 1127 and about 46 metres tall, the Kalyan Mosque's arcaded courtyard, and the blue domes of the Mir-i-Arab madrasa across the square, the moment most photographers wait for.

   Included

   • Ismail Samani Mausoleum with your guide
   • Chashma-Ayub and the Bolo-Hauz mosque
   • The Ark fortress
   • Sit-down lunch in the old town
   • The Po-i-Kalyan at golden hour: the Kalyan Minaret, the Kalyan Mosque and the Mir-i-Arab madrasa from the square

   Optional experiences

   • Sitorai Mohi Hosa, the last emir's summer palace about 5 km north, by vehicle with your guide in the free afternoon, priced when you book

   Easier option: Our vehicle takes you from Ismail Samani to the foot of the Ark, and you can watch the Po-i-Kalyan from a terrace cafe.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, walk the lanes of the old Jewish quarter and its synagogue with your guide's map.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 6 km on foot across the day, on paving and the Ark's steep brick ramp.

   

7. Day 7: Across the Kyzylkum to Khiva

   Bukhara to Khiva across the Kyzylkum Desert, by train or road

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Khiva
   Day 7 details

   This is the one long travel day, and it is long because Bukhara and Khiva are about 450 km apart across the Kyzylkum, the Red Sands desert, with no practical flight between them. The daytime train runs on some days of the week only, so we confirm road or train for your date with your final itinerary. By road we drive the desert highway in our own vehicle, six to seven hours of driving broken by stops every hour or two, a view over the Amu Darya where the road meets the river, and a sit-down lunch at a roadside tea house. When the train runs on our date, it takes about six to seven hours in reserved seats with room to walk about, and lunch is a picnic of bread, samsa, cheese and fruit bought fresh in Bukhara that morning. Out of the window the desert is low scrub, saxaul and red sand, then the irrigated fields of Khorezm. We reach Khiva in the late afternoon, see the clay city walls turn gold at sunset, walking along the top where the wall walk is open, and sit down to dinner together.

   Included

   • Bukhara to Khiva across the Kyzylkum in our own vehicle with a sit-down lunch, or by daytime train in reserved seats on dates it runs
   • Lunch on the way
   • The Itchan Kala walls at sunset with your guide, and the wall walk where open
   • Dinner in Khiva

   Activity: By road the drive is about 450 km and six to seven hours, over our 4-hour daily cap; it is the only day that breaks it, and the stops and lunch are built in. The daytime train runs only on some days of the week, so we confirm road or train for your date with your final itinerary.

   

8. Day 8: A full day inside Itchan Kala

   Khiva: Itchan Kala on foot

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Khiva
   Day 8 details

   Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva, was Uzbekistan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1990, and it is small enough to know by the end of the day. We start early, before the day visitors drive in from Urgench. Through the west gate stands the Kalta Minor, a fat turquoise minaret left unfinished in the 1850s. Inside the Kuhna Ark, the khans' fortress, we climb the Ak-Sheikh Bobo bastion for the view over domes and flat roofs. The Juma Mosque is a single hall held up by about two hundred carved wooden columns, a few of them centuries older than the building. After the blue-tiled harem courtyards of the Tosh-Hovli palace and the green dome of the Pahlavon Mahmud mausoleum, we sit down to lunch, perhaps green dill noodles, a Khorezm dish. The afternoon is free to wander the lanes, and at sunset the walls and minarets turn gold.

   Included

   • Itchan Kala with your guide: the West Gate, the Kalta Minor, the Mohammed Amin Khan madrasa, the Kuhna Ark and the Ak-Sheikh Bobo bastion
   • The Juma Mosque
   • The Tosh-Hovli palace
   • The Pahlavon Mahmud mausoleum
   • The Islam Khoja minaret and madrasa
   • Sit-down lunch inside the old town

   Easier option: Skip the bastion stairs and rest at the hotel after lunch; Itchan Kala is flat and every sight is within a few minutes' walk.

   More active option: Climb the narrow, steep stairway of the Islam Khoja minaret, the tallest in Khiva, for the view across the old town to the desert.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on foot on flat lanes, with stairs at the Kuhna Ark bastion and an optional minaret climb.

   

9. Day 9: Fly to Tashkent, the metro and a farewell dinner

   Khiva to Urgench airport, flight to Tashkent, then central Tashkent

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Tashkent
   Day 9 details

   A last early walk inside the walls while Khiva is still quiet, then a 40-minute drive to Urgench airport for the flight to Tashkent, about an hour and a half, instead of the night train some trips use. From the airport we go straight into the city for a guided afternoon in the capital's modern half. Tashkent's metro, opened in 1977, is the reason to ride underground here: each station is decorated differently, from cosmonauts in blue ceramic at Kosmonavtlar to the chandeliers and carved plaster of Alisher Navoi. We come up at Amir Timur Square and walk past the arched Alisher Navoi Theatre, finished in 1947 partly by Japanese prisoners of war, to the Courage Monument, which marks the 1966 earthquake that levelled much of the old city. After a free hour at the hotel, we meet for a farewell dinner together.

   Included

   • Flight from Urgench (UGC) to Tashkent (TAS)
   • Guided afternoon in Tashkent: a metro ride through the decorated stations, Amir Timur Square, the Alisher Navoi Theatre and the Courage Monument
   • Farewell dinner

   Free time: An hour free before dinner

   Activity: Flight times change by season; if the flight lands late, we take the metro ride on the morning of day 10 for those with afternoon flights.

10. Day 10: Depart from Tashkent

    Your hotel to Tashkent International Airport

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    Breakfast is the last meal of the trip, and there is nothing planned after it, so the morning is yours. If your flight leaves in the afternoon or evening, there is time to go back to Chorsu Bazaar for dried fruit, nuts and spices to take home, to see the Museum of Applied Arts in its carved and painted house from the early 1900s, or to sit in a park with a pot of green tea. Our vehicle takes you from the hotel to Tashkent International Airport, a short drive from the centre, at a time set by your flight. Allow about three hours at the airport before an international departure, as security and passport checks can be slow at busy times. If you would like to stay longer in Tashkent, or add a few days in the Fergana Valley or the mountains east of the capital, ask us when you book and we will quote the extra nights and transfers.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Tashkent International Airport (TAS)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Any flight time works; plan to be at the airport about three hours before an international departure.

Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October bring warm, dry days and cool evenings. July and August are very hot in Bukhara and Khiva, often above 40 C, and winter is cold, so we do not run this trip in those months.

• Tashkent1 night
• Samarkand3 nights
• Bukhara2 nights
• Khiva2 nights
• Tashkent1 night