Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan: the Silk Road cities to the Darvaza crater

1. Day 1: Arrive in Tashkent

   Tashkent International Airport to your hotel in central Tashkent

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Tashkent
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Tashkent International Airport (TAS), a short drive from the centre, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. Plan to land by about 4 pm; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Tashkent was largely rebuilt after the 1966 earthquake, so the centre is broad avenues, fountains and plane trees rather than mud-brick lanes, and it is an easy place to find your feet. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide takes the group on a short walk to Amir Timur Square and past the Romanov Palace, the ornate brick house built in the 1890s for a grand duke of the Russian imperial family who was exiled here. Back at the hotel, the briefing covers the trip and, importantly, the Turkmenistan paperwork: your guide checks that every letter of invitation has come through and explains the border day. Then we sit down to a welcome dinner of salads, tandoor bread and shashlik.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tashkent International Airport (TAS)
   • Evening walk to Amir Timur Square and the Romanov Palace with your guide
   • Welcome briefing, including the Turkmenistan border paperwork
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening walk

   

2. Day 2: Old Tashkent and the fast train to Samarkand

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

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

   The morning is old Tashkent. At the Khast Imam complex, the city's religious centre, the library keeps the Uthman Quran, a manuscript traditionally dated to the 7th century. A few minutes away, Chorsu Bazaar fills a great green dome with bread, dried apricots, spices and pickles, at its busiest in 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 to Samarkand, about two to two and a half hours in reserved seats, while our vehicle carries the bags to and from the stations. We check in near the Registan and walk to Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timur, while late sun warms its ribbed turquoise dome. At sunset we reach the Registan, three tiled madrasas facing 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.

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
   • 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 a shrine believed to hold Qusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet, and pilgrims still come, so we walk it quietly. Next door is 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 short drive on, the curved trench of Ulugbek's Observatory survives from the 1420s, when the ruler and astronomer charted more than a thousand stars. We are back in the centre by early afternoon. Lunch is your choice, and the rest of the day is free to rest through the heat or browse the craft shops near the Registan.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Take the Shah-i-Zinda stairway at your own pace and 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: Lunch and the 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: Inside the Registan, 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. A pedestrian street leads to Bibi-Khanym, the vast Friday mosque Timur ordered after his Indian campaign of 1398 to 1399, partly rebuilt since an earthquake brought much of it down. Next door, Siyob Bazaar sells Samarkand's round 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 by hand from mulberry bark, and you try a sheet yourself before lunch in the village. We are back in town by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day 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 past 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, lower and quieter than Samarkand and built of fawn brick around pools and covered markets. Lunch is free near the hotel. When the heat eases, your guide walks you through the centre: Lyabi-Hauz, the 17th-century pool under old mulberry trees, and the Nadir Divan-Begi madrasa with its tiled birds; the domed trading halls where jewellers and cap-makers once worked; the sunken Magoki-Attari mosque; and the facing madrasas of Ulugbek and Abdulaziz Khan. We finish at Chor Minor, a small 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, Sitorai Mohi Hosa and the Po-i-Kalyan

   • Drive about 30 min
   • 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 so finely that the walls look woven. Nearby are the Chashma-Ayub shrine over a spring and the Bolo-Hauz mosque, 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 our vehicle takes us about 5 km north to Sitorai Mohi Hosa, the last emir's summer palace, where Russian mirrors and stoves sit beside Bukharan carved plaster. When the light turns gold we meet at the Po-i-Kalyan: the Kalyan Minaret, built in 1127 and about 46 metres tall, the arcaded courtyard of the Kalyan Mosque, and the blue domes of the Mir-i-Arab madrasa across the square.

   Included

   • Ismail Samani Mausoleum with your guide
   • Chashma-Ayub and the Bolo-Hauz mosque
   • The Ark fortress
   • Sit-down lunch in the old town
   • Sitorai Mohi Hosa, the emir's summer palace
   • The Po-i-Kalyan at golden hour: the Kalyan Minaret, the Kalyan Mosque and the Mir-i-Arab madrasa

   Easier option: Skip the summer palace and rest at the hotel between lunch and the Po-i-Kalyan, which you can watch from a terrace cafe.

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

   Free time: An hour or two free before golden hour

   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 road or train

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

   This is the first of the long travel days, and it is long because Bukhara and Khiva are about 450 km apart across the Kyzylkum, the Red Sands, 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. By train it is about six to seven hours in reserved seats, with a picnic of bread, samsa, cheese and fruit bought in Bukhara that morning. Outside, low scrub, saxaul and sand give way to the irrigated fields of Khorezm. We reach Khiva in the late afternoon, watch the clay walls turn gold at sunset, and sit down to dinner together.

   Included

   • Bukhara to Khiva across the Kyzylkum in our own vehicle, or by daytime train in reserved seats on dates it runs
   • Lunch on the way
   • The Itchan Kala walls at sunset with your guide
   • Dinner in Khiva

   Activity: By road the drive is about 450 km and six to seven hours, over our 4-hour daily cap, because there is no shorter way to Khiva; stops and lunch are built in.

   

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 broad 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, some far older than the building itself. 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 shivit oshi, Khorezm's green dill noodles. The afternoon is free. This evening your guide briefs the group on tomorrow's border crossing and what to keep in your hand luggage.

   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
   • Border briefing in the evening

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

   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: Over the Shavat border to Konye-Urgench

   Khiva to the Shavat-Dashoguz border, then Konye-Urgench and Dashoguz

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dashoguz
   Day 9 details

   We leave Khiva after breakfast for the Shavat border post, about 40 minutes north. Border days are slow: Uzbek exit control, a walk or shuttle across the neutral zone with your own bags, then Turkmen entry, where your visa is issued against your letter of invitation and the fees are paid in US dollars. Allow one to three hours. Your See Sight Tours guide crosses with you, and on the Turkmen side a licensed Turkmen guide and our partner vehicle meet us. We drive about two hours north-west to Konye-Urgench, once the capital of Khorezm, sacked by the Mongols in 1221 and listed by UNESCO in 2005, and stop first for a late lunch. In the afternoon light we walk between the Kutlug Timur minaret, about 60 m tall, the conical dome of the Il-Arslan mausoleum and the tiled dome of Turabek Khanum. Then about 100 km back to Dashoguz: about 4 hours of driving in all, plus the border wait, because the border and the site sit on opposite sides of town.

   Included

   • Border crossing at Shavat-Dashoguz with your guide
   • Turkmenistan letter of invitation (arranged before you travel)
   • Late lunch near Konye-Urgench
   • Konye-Urgench with a licensed Turkmen guide: the Kutlug Timur minaret, the Il-Arslan, Tekesh and Turabek Khanum mausoleums

   Easier option: At Konye-Urgench our vehicle drives between the monuments, which are spread over open ground, so you can see the main three with little walking.

   Free time: Evening free in Dashoguz

   Activity: About 4 hours of driving plus 1 to 3 hours at the border, on foot and waiting, carrying your own bags through the checks. Keep US dollars in clean notes, your passport and the letter of invitation in your hand luggage.

   

10. Day 10: Into the Karakum to the Darvaza crater

    Dashoguz to the Darvaza gas crater in the Karakum Desert

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Darvaza
    Day 10 details

    A slow morning in Dashoguz, with time for the bazaar, then an early lunch in town before we head south into the Karakum, the Black Sands, which cover most of Turkmenistan. It is about 300 km to Darvaza on a rough road, about five hours with stops, and there is no town between worth a night, so the drive runs an hour over our cap; we break it with a tea stop and a leg stretch about halfway. For the last stretch we switch to 4x4s on the sand track. We reach camp in the late afternoon, settle in, and walk to the rim of the crater as the light goes: a pit about 70 m across, said to have collapsed during Soviet gas drilling around 1971 and been set alight to burn off the gas. Turkmen officials have reported the fire shrinking in recent years, so expect a glow rather than a wall of flame. After dinner at camp we go back to see it in full dark, then sleep under a sky with no town lights.

    Included

    • Dashoguz bazaar with your guides
    • Lunch in Dashoguz
    • 4x4 transfer on the sand track to camp
    • The Darvaza gas crater at dusk and after dark
    • Dinner at camp

    Easier option: Watch the crater from the camp side and ride the 4x4 to the rim rather than walking the sand.

    More active option: Get up before sunrise to walk back to the rim for the crater in the first light.

    Activity: The camp is basic: yurts or two-person tents with mattresses and bedding, shared toilets and no shower; we confirm the exact camp when we confirm your dates. Bring a head torch and a warm layer. The rim has no fence, so stay back from the edge.

11. Day 11: The water and mud craters, then Ashgabat

    Darvaza to the nearby water and mud craters, then south to Ashgabat

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Ashgabat
    Day 11 details

    After breakfast at camp we stop at two smaller collapse craters near Darvaza, one holding green water and one with grey mud bubbling gas, both from the same era of Soviet drilling. Then we head south on the main road to Ashgabat, about 260 km and four hours across the Karakum, with a stop at the dunes for photographs and a stretch. We reach the capital by early afternoon and sit down to lunch together, with a hotel shower not far behind after the camp night. Ashgabat was flattened by an earthquake in 1948 and rebuilt since independence in white marble, gold domes and wide, empty avenues; it holds a Guinness World Record for the density of its white marble buildings. The rest of the day is free. Your guides suggest an evening walk among the fountains, keeping to the places where photographs are allowed.

    Included

    • The water crater and the mud crater near Darvaza
    • Stop in the Karakum dunes
    • Lunch in Ashgabat on arrival

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: About 4 hours of driving on the main road, with stops.

    

12. Day 12: Parthian Nisa and white-marble Ashgabat

    Ashgabat to Nisa, then Ashgabat city

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Ashgabat
    Day 12 details

    We drive out to Nisa, about 18 km west at the foot of the Kopet Dag, early while it is cool. The mud-brick walls of Old Nisa, an early capital of the Parthian empire from the 3rd century BC, stand on a hill above the plain, and the site has been on the UNESCO list since 2007. Back in the city, the licensed Turkmen guide leads the tour: the Ertugrul Gazi Mosque, modelled on the mosques of Istanbul; the Independence Monument; the Arch of Neutrality, moved to the south of the city in 2010; and the Russian Bazaar, where locals shop for bread, melons and spices. Lunch is together in the city. The afternoon is free to rest or look round the bazaar again, and in the evening we meet for a farewell dinner to talk over two countries, three deserts and the road from Tashkent.

    Included

    • Old Nisa with your guides
    • Ashgabat city tour: the Ertugrul Gazi Mosque, the Independence Monument and the Arch of Neutrality
    • The Russian Bazaar
    • Lunch in Ashgabat
    • Farewell dinner

    Free time: Afternoon free

    Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Nisa on uneven, unshaded ground. Photography of government buildings and officials is not allowed; your guides will say where photos are fine.

13. Day 13: Depart from Ashgabat

    Your hotel to Ashgabat International Airport

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 13 details

    Breakfast is the last meal of the trip and nothing is planned after it. Ashgabat has few international flights, and many leave at night or in the early morning, so your transfer time is set by your flight: our vehicle takes you from the hotel to Ashgabat International Airport, a short drive from the centre, with your guide. The terminal itself, opened in 2016, is shaped like a falcon in flight and is worth a look from the forecourt. Allow about three hours before an international departure, as passport and customs checks can be slow, and keep your hotel registration slips and the receipt for your visa fees with your passport for exit control. If your flight leaves the night before, tell us and we arrange the transfer from the farewell dinner. If you would like to add Merv and Mary, or more days in Ashgabat, ask us when you book and we will quote the extra nights.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Ashgabat International Airport (ASB)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

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

    

Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October bring warm, dry days and cool evenings. By June the Karakum is very hot in the day, so the crater visit is timed for dusk; nights in the desert are cool in spring and autumn. July and August pass 40 C in Bukhara, Khiva and the desert, and winter is cold, so we do not run the trip then.

• Tashkent1 night
• Samarkand3 nights
• Bukhara2 nights
• Khiva2 nights
• Dashoguz1 night
• Darvaza1 night
• Ashgabat2 nights