DETAILS
This 14-day small group tour follows the old Silk Road through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, with optional extensions into Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan for a full five-Stan journey. Begin in Bishkek before heading into the Chon-Kemin Valley for a guesthouse stay with village-based experiences: horse games, felt-making, yurt building, a hunting demonstration with trained eagles, and a performance of the Manas epic. From there, fly to Tashkent, where Soviet-era architecture, a celebrated metro system, and the new Center for Islamic Civilization make for a compelling introduction to Uzbekistan, then continue by fast train to Samarkand and Bukhara before driving to Khiva through the Kyzyl Kum Desert. Along the way, a cross-border day in Tajikistan visiting the ancient settlement of Sarazm, a plov cooking demonstration in Bukhara, and meetings with archaeologists and local scholars add substance to the journey. Expert-led visits, lectures, and meetings with local specialists provide depth throughout.
- Pricing from
- $7,495
- Trip Type
- Group Travel Tour, International Land & Rail Tours
- Departure Dates
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Oct 9, 2027 - Oct 22, 2027
• All accommodation based on double occupancy per itinerary with breakfast daily, local service charge and tax (standard hotel check-in/out times apply unless otherwise noted)
– Bishkek (2 nights) at Hyatt Regency Bishkek
– Chong Kemin (2 nights) at Kemin Guesthouse
– Tashkent (2 nights) at Swissotel Tashkent
– Samarkand (3 nights) at Kosh Havuz Boutique Hotel
– Bukhara (2 nights) at Alexia hotel
– Khiva (2 nights) at Asia Khiva Hotel
Optional Pre-Tour to Kazakhstan, Oct 7-9 Land Tour Package Inclusions
• All accommodation based on double occupancy per itinerary with breakfast daily, local service charge and tax (standard hotel check-in/out times apply unless otherwise noted)
– Almaty (2 nights) at Dostyk Almaty Hotel
• Private vehicle for one group arrival and one group departure transfer per itinerary at airports
• Transportation per itinerary by private vehicle
• All sightseeing and excursions including entrance fees per itinerary
• Local English-speaking guides throughout itinerary
• Services of a MIR tour manager throughout the land program
• Meals as listed in itinerary, breakfast daily, 1 lunch, and 2 dinners
• Bottled/purified water with meals
• Gratuities to tour manager, local guides, drivers
• Baggage handling at the hotel
• Destination preparation information packet
$1,375 per person double occupancy
Single room supplement $150
Pre-Tour, Thu, Oct 7 – Arrive Almaty, Kazakhstan
Arrive in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and former capital, set at the foothills of the Zaili Ala-Too Mountains. After clearing immigration and customs, transfer to your hotel in the city center. The rest of the day is yours to recover from your flight and begin adjusting to Central Asian time. Almaty sits on the site of an ancient Silk Road oasis town called Almatu, destroyed by the Mongols in 1211. Today the city thrives on foreign investment, particularly in oil and gas industries, while maintaining its reputation as “the place with apples,” with wild varieties in the vicinity suggesting this is where apples were first domesticated. Rest tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s exploration of this green, sprawling metropolis.
Overnight at Dostyk Hotel or similar
Pre-Tour, Fri, Oct 8 – Almaty
Begin in Panfilov Park, a green oasis renamed by the Soviets to honor 28 Kazakh soldiers who died defending Moscow during WWII. An Eternal Flame memorializes all who fell during the war. The park is home to Zenkov Cathedral, a yellow and green Orthodox church with golden domes that survived the devastating 1911 earthquake. At the Museum of Musical Instruments, housed in a 1907 Russian-style wooden building, recordings play as a guide demonstrates traditional Kazakh instruments including the dombra, a two-stringed lute found throughout Central Asia. The Green Bazaar is a good introduction to local culture, where you can shop for fresh produce including the delicious apples Almaty is famous for, along with meat, spices, dried fruit, and chocolates from the 70-year-old Rakhat factory. The Central State Museum traces Kazakhstan’s development from the Bronze Age through the Russian Empire and Communist Period to the present, featuring a miniature replica of the Golden Man, warrior armor made from 4,000 gold pieces.
Overnight at Dostyk Hotel or similar, Meals: B, L, D
Pre-Tour, Sat, Oct 9 – Almaty to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Enjoy a morning visit to the Almaty Museum of Arts, Kazakhstan’s first private institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art, opened in 2025. The building’s design features two interlocking volumes symbolizing harmony between Almaty’s mountainous landscape and urban life. Its collection of over 700 works showcases prominent artists from Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the international art scene. After this glimpse into the region’s contemporary creative culture, transfer to the airport for your flight to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where the main tour begins. This short but rich introduction to Kazakhstan provides context for understanding the broader Central Asian region, its Soviet legacy, and its independent present as you continue your journey through the neighboring countries.
Overnight at Hyatt Regency Bishkek (joining main tour), Meals: B, L
Optional Pre-Tour Net Land Price Does Not Include:
• Internal Air ticket from Almaty to Bishkek one-way with taxes included, currently $165 per person subject to change until ticketed.
• International airfare to/from the start and ending cities; air taxes or fuel surcharges; increases in local taxes/VAT; pre- or post-tour services; visa or passport fees; medical and trip interruption insurance; evacuation costs; food or beverages not included in group meals; items of a personal ature such as laundry, alcohol, telephone expense, excess baggage fees, photo/video expenses inside museums (where allowed); other items not expressly listed as included.
Optional Post-Tour to Turkmenistan, Oct 22-25, Land Tour Package Inclusions
• All accommodation based on double occupancy per itinerary with breakfast daily, local service charge and tax (standard hotel check-in/out times apply unless otherwise noted)
– Ashgabat (3 nights) at Oguzkent Hotel
• Private vehicle for one group arrival and one group departure transfer per itinerary at airports
• Transportation per itinerary by private vehicle
• All sightseeing and excursions including entrance fees per itinerary
• Local English-speaking guides throughout itinerary
• Special Turkmen folk show during the farewell dinner
• Services of a MIR tour manager throughout the land program
• Meals as listed in itinerary, breakfast daily, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners
• Bottled/purified water with meals
• Gratuities to tour manager, local guides, drivers
• Baggage handling at the hotel
• Destination preparation information packet
$1,695 per person double occupancy
Single room supplement $295
Post-Tour, Fri, Oct 22 – Khiva, Uzbekistan to Dashoguz to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Cross overland into Turkmenistan at the border near Khiva, where your local guide and driver meet you for the short journey to Dashoguz. This small regional capital serves as a transportation hub, its name meaning “stone spring” in reference to an important underground water supply. Browse the local bazaar before transferring to the airport for your evening flight to Ashgabat. The capital awaits with a completely different character from the ancient cities you’ve been exploring. In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Ashgabat the record for the highest density of white marble buildings in the world, a result of the recent construction boom that has transformed the city into a showcase of modern monuments and gleaming facades.
Overnight at Oguzkent Hotel or similar, Meals: L, D
Post-Tour, Sat, Oct 23 – Ashgabat
Ashgabat is unlike any other capital in Central Asia. Spend the day taking in the city’s surreal modern architecture, from the triumphal Arch of Neutrality with its panoramic views, to the gleaming Olympic Village, the fountain-lined Independence Park, and the Wedding Palace with its giant globe. Also spend time at the National Museum of Turkmenistan which traces the country’s history from the Stone Age through the Zoroastrian era and beyond, with ceramics, coins, gold artifacts, and a strong collection of Turkmen carpets.
Overnight at Oguzkent Hotel or similar, Meals: B, L
Post-Tour, Sun, Oct 24 – Ashgabat
Browse the Altyn Asyr Market, where household goods, patterned carpets, and livestock all share the same sprawling grounds. Outside the city, visit a breeding farm devoted to the Akhal-Teke, one of the world’s oldest horse breeds, with the elegant long-necked build said to have influenced both the Arabian and the American Quarter Horse. Watch flatbread baked in a traditional tamdyr oven and sample it warm before heading to Nisa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once the heart of the ancient Parthian Empire. The day ends at a Turkmen house museum where you can browse traditional jewelry and embroidered garments, try them on, and watch artisans at work in carpet weaving and sewing workshops.
Overnight at Oguzkent Hotel or similar, Meals: B, D
Post-Tour, Mon, Oct 25 – Depart Ashgabat
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your departure flight.
Optional Post-Tour Net Land Price Does Not Include
Internal Air ticket from Dashoguz to Ashgabat one-way with taxes included, currently $105 per person subject to change until ticketed.
• International airfare to/from the start and ending cities; air taxes or fuel surcharges; increases in local taxes/VAT; pre- or post-tour services; visa or passport fees; medical and trip interruption insurance; evacuation costs; food or beverages not included in group meals; items of a personal nature such as laundry, alcohol, telephone expense, excess baggage fees, photo/video expenses inside museums (where allowed); other items not expressly listed as included.
TOUR MAP
ITINERARY
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day 1
Depart the U.S./Arrive Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Settle into Kyrgyzstan’s welcoming capital after your arrival, then join fellow travelers for an evening orientation. Your Tour Manager will outline the cultural discoveries ahead while you get acquainted with the group over dinner. This relaxed introduction sets the tone for the busy coming days of exploration through Central Asia’s mountain valleys, ancient trading posts, and preserved monuments. Bishkek sits against the dramatic backdrop of the Ala-Too mountains, and while tonight focuses on rest and connection, you’ll soon discover why this tree-lined city serves as the perfect gateway to understanding the region’s nomadic heritage and contemporary character.
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day 2
Bishkek
Walk through Bishkek’s tree-shaded boulevards to understand how this former Silk Road stopover became modern Kyrgyzstan’s capital. At the National History Museum, Soviet-era art fills one entire floor while ancient artifacts tell stories of nomadic cultures that shaped these steppes. The sensory experience of Osh Bazaar brings you face to face with traders selling everything from fermented milk to brilliantly colored textiles. Later, at the Shyrdak Bayany gallery, a cultural expert explains the geometric patterns woven into traditional felt carpets, demonstrating how these designs encode meaning in nomadic society. You’ll witness the elaborate elechek headdress and taste maksym and chalap, fermented grain drinks that remain part of everyday Kyrgyz life.
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day 3
Bishkek/Chong Kemin
Drive east toward the mountains, stopping at the 11th-century Burana Tower, one of the few surviving watchtowers from the old Silk Road. The view from its platform rewards those who climb the steep ancient steps. At a salbuurun demonstration, trained raptors and long-legged hunting dogs showcase skills passed down through generations, while mounted archers pierce targets at full gallop. The afternoon brings you to Don-Aryk village for lunch at a family-run home restaurant, then on to our guesthouse in Tarsu Village in the Chon-Kemin Valley.
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day 4
Chong Kemin
Today centers on the traditions that define Kyrgyz identity. Watch a spirited match of Kok-Boru, where horsemen compete fiercely for possession of a goat carcass in this centuries-old sport that originated among shepherds. You’ll observe felt-making techniques recognized by UNESCO as endangered heritage, learning why these colorful rugs matter beyond their beauty. During a yurt setup exhibition, discover how these portable dwellings work and why they’ve housed nomadic families for millennia. Try your hand at making boorsok, fried dough that’s a beloved snack across the region. The evening brings a folklore concert featuring a Manaschi who recites selections from the Epic of Manas, a poem of nearly half a million verses that’s been passed down orally for centuries. Accompanied by the three-stringed komuz, this performance draws you into the oral traditions that have defined Kyrgyz identity for centuries.
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day 5
Chong Kemin • Bishkek • Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Choose your own morning adventure: hike through the scenic Kalmak Ashuu Gorge, or take a leisurely village walk to meet locals and perhaps experience a horse cart ride or learn about traditional baby cradles. Next, return to Bishkek for our afternoon flight to Uzbekistan’s capital. Tashkent awaits with a completely different energy, its wide boulevards and reconstructed Islamic monuments revealing new chapters in Central Asia’s story. The shift from Kyrgyzstan’s mountain villages to Uzbekistan’s largest city happens quickly, offering perspective on the region’s diversity. By evening you’ll be settled in the heart of this ancient crossroads, ready to explore how Silk Road history influenced urban development across centuries of conquest, scholarship, and trade.
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day 6
Tashkent
Delve into Tashkent’s blend of ancient heritage and Soviet-era reconstruction today. Though one of Central Asia’s oldest cities, much of what you see was built after the devastating 1966 earthquake. The new Center for Islamic Civilization explores Uzbekistan’s role in medieval scholarship through rare manuscripts, architectural history, and exhibits on the great thinkers who worked here. At Chorsu Bazaar, merchants beneath a tiled dome sell everything from spices to embroidered textiles, their weekend energy spilling into the surrounding plaza. The Tashkent Metro offers an unexpected window into Soviet ambition: stations built with marble and granite, lit by chandeliers, each telling different stories through mosaics and decorative motifs. These underground “art galleries for the people” reveal how public architecture served both practical transport needs and ideological purposes during a transformative period in the city’s development.
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day 7
Tashkent to Samarkand
Board the fast train to Samarkand, perhaps the most recognized name among Silk Road cities. Your first encounter with Registan Square explains the fame: three monumental madrassahs frame an open plaza that once served as marketplace and public gathering space. A walking tour takes you through the old mahalla neighborhood between the Registan and Bibi Khanum Mosque, the grand 15th-century mosque Tamerlane built after his campaign in India. The adjacent Siab Bazaar pulses with color and commerce, women in brilliant dress selling produce amid the bustle of a working market. After dinner, enjoy a special visit to Gur-Emir Mausoleum, where Tamerlane lies buried.
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day 8
Samarkand
Today walk through the Shah-i-Zinda complex, where rows of mausoleums stretch between present-day Samarkand and the dusty slopes of ancient Afrosiab. An archaeologist guides you through the Afrosiab History Museum, bringing depth to pottery fragments and tiles excavated from this 2,500-year-old settlement. At a workshop in Konigil village, watch craftsmen make handmade paper using techniques from the 8th century, when Samarkand became a papermaking center. The afternoon brings you to Ulug Bek Observatory, where Tamerlane’s grandson calculated the length of the year within one minute of modern measurements, all without a telescope. His meticulous observations, conducted with only the naked eye and this building’s geometric instruments, created the most comprehensive star catalog of its era and earned him a place in astronomical history.
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day 9
Samarkand • Panjakent, Tajikistan • Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Cross into Tajikistan for a day exploring the small city of Panjakent and its surroundings. At the Rudaki Mausoleum pay respects to the father of Tajik and Persian poetry, whose simple white marble shrine sits among rose gardens and a 400-year-old mulberry tree. The 9th-century poet served decades as court poet to Samanid royalty, and though he wrote over 100,000 verses, only about 1,000 survive today. Panjakent’s central bazaar offers highly seasonal local produce, with friendly vendors eager to share samples of yellow carrots preferred for the traditional pilaf dish oshi palav. At Sarazm, Tajikistan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, archaeologists have traced human settlement back 5,000 years to when this fertile valley served as both agricultural center and thriving metallurgical hub.
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day 10
Samarkand • Bukhara
Board the fast train west to Bukhara, an oasis city that’s preserved its ancient architecture and unified Old Town character perhaps better than any Silk Road settlement. The Bahauddin Naqshband Mausoleum honors a 14th-century Sufi mystic whose spiritual complex grew over centuries from simple tomb to mosque and hostel for visiting dervishes. At the Emir’s Summer Palace on the city’s edge, wild peacocks strut through heavily planted grounds connecting various pavilions. This “Palace of Moon and Stars” was built at the turn of the century to keep the emir comfortable but politically impotent under Russian control. Inside, the Museum of National Crafts displays Uzbekistan’s famous suzani, embroidered coverlets in vivid colors. At Chor Minor Madrassah, four slender blue-topped minarets create one of Bukhara’s most distinctive silhouettes. The city’s unified feel comes from its central reflecting pool and plaza, connected by commonality in the domed bazaars and major monuments that ring the Old Town.
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day 11
Bukhara
Begin at Labi-Hauz Plaza, where centuries-old mulberry trees shade a rectangular reflecting pool that’s served as Bukhara’s social heart throughout history. The 12th-century Kalon Minaret towers 150 feet above the dusty square, its fourteen bands of distinctive brickwork resolving into traditional stalactite formation at the top. Across the plaza, the Mir-i-Arab Madrassah’s matching turquoise domes mark what was a working Islamic school from the 16th century until 1920. At the Ark Citadel, archaeologist Maksuma Niyazova provides enhanced access to expositions in this 2,000-year-old fortress that served Bukhara’s emirs as residence, audience hall, trade center, and protection. Behind it stands the infamous Zindan Prison’s “bug pit,” where two British spies met their fate during the 19th-century Great Game. The 10th-century Ismail Samani Mausoleum showcases engineering brilliance in its transition from square walls to circular roof using identical bricks. End your day at a family-run establishment learning to make plov, the rice dish that’s Uzbekistan’s national pride, with variations that differ from family to family across the country.
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day 12
Bukhara • Khiva
Spend the day crossing westward through the Kyzyl Kum Desert, whose red sands cover 115,000 square miles between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. These two rivers once flowed into the Aral Sea before cotton irrigation contributed to that body of water’s tragic disappearance. The day-long drive offers time to absorb the landscapes that travelers have crossed for millennia, understanding why oasis cities like the one you’re approaching became so vital. Khiva awaits at journey’s end, its walled Old Town functioning as part museum and part living re-creation of life centuries ago. Archaeological evidence shows human habitation here from the 5th century BC, though the city only became capital of the Khorezm Khanate in the 16th century. That khanate ruled the surrounding region for over 300 years, leaving behind the remarkably preserved monuments you’ll explore tomorrow.
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day 13
Khiva
Today enjoy a walking tour through Khiva’s Ichon Qala. Enter through the Ata Darvaza Gate into a walled city that feels frozen in time. The largest madrassah in 19th-century Central Asia, Muhammad Rahim-Khan, focused not just on religious subjects but sciences, mathematics, astronomy, and even poetry and debate. At Kunya Ark fortress, see the khan’s 12th-century residence with its richly decorated mosque, harem, and throne room. The Juma Mosque’s 115 filigreed wooden columns create a forest-like effect around two light wells, some carved as early as the 10th century. Meet with a local scholar who researches ancient Khorezm history and has deciphered inscriptions on the mosque’s famous columns. At Tash-Hauli Palace, wander through over 150 rooms surrounding nine courtyards, including the khan’s personal harem quarters with elaborate tilework and intricately carved plaster called ganche.
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day 14
Khiva • Urgench
After breakfast, transfer to Urgench airport for your departure flight home.
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