Silk Road Classic

Welcome to Uzbekistan. Your driver meets you at Tashkent International Airport and transfers you to your hotel for an early check-in (included in your tour). Take the morning to rest, then meet your guide in the afternoon for an orientation walk through the Old City — Khast Imam Square, the Kukeldash Madrasah, and the bustling Chorsu Bazaar where pyramids of spices and dried apricots fill the domed halls. Evening at leisure to discover Tashkent on your own pace.

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.