Silk Road Classic

Morning sightseeing in Tashkent: the Independence Square, the magnificent Tashkent Metro stations (each one a different work of art), and the Applied Arts Museum. Lunch on your own — we will give you recommendations near the station. Afternoon transfer to the railway terminal for the high-speed Afrosiyob train to Samarkand (2h 10m). Arrive in Samarkand, check in to your hotel, and dinner on your own to start exploring the heart of the Silk Road.

A full day in Samarkand begins at Registan Square at the quiet hour, before the tour buses arrive. Three madrasahs face each other across the square — Ulugbek, Sher-Dor, Tilla-Kari — each more spectacular than the last. Continue to Bibi-Khanym Mosque, once the largest mosque in the Islamic world, and the Siyob Bazaar where you can sample non bread fresh from clay tandyrs. After lunch, visit Shah-i-Zinda — a stunning necropolis of mausoleums that locals call "the most beautiful corner of Samarkand". Evening at leisure.

Morning visit to Gur-e-Amir — the mausoleum of Tamerlane himself — and the ancient Ulugbek Observatory where one of the great medieval astronomers tracked the stars in the 1420s. After lunch, drive to Bukhara (approximately 4 hours through the cotton fields and Persian-influenced steppe). Check in to your Bukhara hotel and enjoy an evening walk through the Lyabi-Hauz pond complex — the historic heart of the city.

Bukhara is a museum-city that still lives — 140 protected monuments within a few square kilometres. Today you walk through it: the Poi-Kalyan complex (the Great Minaret, the Kalyan Mosque, the Mir-Arab Madrasah), the working trading domes that have sold silk, jewelry, and money-changing services for 500 years, and the Magoki-Attari mosque built on layers older than Islam itself. Afternoon visit to the Ark Fortress and Samanid Mausoleum — one of the oldest Islamic monuments in Central Asia. Evening: a quiet dinner is recommended in one of the courtyard restaurants in the old city.

An early start for the long but spectacular drive across the Kyzylkum desert to Khiva (approximately 7 hours with stops). The desert landscape is otherworldly — vast, silent, broken by occasional camel herds and the mighty Amu Darya river crossing. Arrive in Khiva by late afternoon and step inside Itchan Kala — the walled inner city, a UNESCO World Heritage site that feels frozen in time. Sunset from the walls is one of the most photographed moments in Central Asia.

Spend the morning unhurried inside Itchan Kala — the Kalta Minor unfinished minaret, the Kunya Ark fortress, the Tash-Khauli palace with its blue-tiled courtyards, and the Pahlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum where the local wrestler-poet rests. After lunch, transfer to Urgench airport (30 minutes) for your flight back to Tashkent or onward. Tour ends.