Description

Set off on an unforgettable 12-day journey through Uzbekistan's most emblematic cities, where history, culture and natural landscapes blend harmoniously. Follow in the footsteps of the Silk Road caravans, discover exceptionally fine Islamic architecture and experience ancestral traditions that have endured for centuries. This meticulously designed tour invites you to explore the essence of Uzbekistan: from the modern dynamism of Tashkent to the timeless magic of Samarkand, Nurata and Bukhara.

D1: Your airport Q Istanbul-Tashkent 17/03
Participants meet at Istanbul airport. Assistance with check-in formalities. Boarding and flight to Tashkent. Arrival at the airport and transfer to the hotel.

D2: Tashkent
Then breakfast. Departure for a tour of the Uzbek capital.
This city is rich in parks and fountains. Over 2,000 years old, it was once a major trading centre at the crossroads of the caravan routes linking Europe and India; today it remains a major cultural centre.
Visit to the Koukeldach medersa, located to the south of the Chorsu bazaar and the "Friendship of Peoples" square. Built in the early 19th century, this medersa was one of the most renowned Koranic universities in Tashkent. Students not only studied the Koran, but also mathematics, astronomy, Persian and Arabic literature and Barakhan, the mausoleum of Kaffal Chachi and medersa Abdul Kasim. Today, this medersa houses shops and workshops for craftsmen, wood engravers, ceramists and painters of miniatures on boxes. It also sells embroidered fabrics and jewellery.

Continuation of the city tour to Independence Square, Theatre Square and Amir Temour Square. Then a visit to the Museum of Applied Arts. Dinner in the restaurant and overnight in the hotel.

KHIVA
D3: Tashkent-Ourguentch-Khiva by plane 1h20
Breakfast. In the morning around 05:00 transfer to Tashkent domestic airport and flight to Urgench at 07:00-08:40.
Assistance with check-in and boarding formalities.

Arrival at Urgentch airport at around 08:40 and transfer to Khiva. Day devoted to visiting KHIVA. Almost in the centre of Itchan-kala, a long blind wall flanked by a minaret is actually the façade of the Juma (Friday) Mosque, Khiva's main mosque. The old fortress of Kounya Ark ("The Old Fortress", 17th century) and then the Mukhammad Rakhimkhon Feruz medersa - the largest in Khiva - and the mausoleum of Sayid Alaouddine. Afternoon discovery of the city considered to be the masterpiece of Uzbek art: the Djouma mosque, the most famous monument in Khiva: the mausoleum of Pakhlavan-Makhmoud and the medersa and minaret Islam Khodja. The highest minaret in Khiva (44.50 m) was built in 1910 by the vizier of Isfandiar Khan, Islam Khodja. Tashkhauli Khan's palace and Khiva's covered bazaar.
Dinner and folk concert in the courtyard of the Medresa in Khiva. Overnight accommodation.

KIZIL KUM DESERT
D4: Khiva / Bukhara (480 km 7-hour drive)
Breakfast.
Early departure by road to BOUKHARA via the Kizil Kum desert.
The route follows the banks of the Amu Darya, which winds its way through the Kizil Kum desert. You can see the ruins of some ancient caravanserais (guesthouses used by caravans crossing the desert to trade in silk, spices and slaves).

Drive to Bukhara, Uzbekistan's second "museum city", which was the regional capital from the end of the 16th century until 1917.
Arrival in BOUKHARA in the late afternoon. Check-in and dinner at the hotel. Night at the hotel.

BOUKHARA
Day 5: Bukhara
We have breakfast. Visit to the "Museum City", which had no fewer than 360 mosques before the Revolution. A veritable oasis in the middle of the red Kyzyl Kum desert, the city has managed to retain its oriental spirit. Once called "The Pearl of Islam", BOUKHARA is one of the most endearing stops on your trip. BOUKHARA is a compendium of all the architecture of Central Asia.

Visit to the Nodir Devonbegui Medersa (1622-1623), originally designed as a caravanserai. The medersa is part of one of Bukhara's most original architectural ensembles: the Liabi-Khauz ("Basin Bank"). The Tchar Minar medersa with its four minarets and turquoise domes. The two-storey Maghoki Attari Mosque (XII-XVI) was built on the remains of the foundations of the old medieval building - its façade is sunk into the ground by almost 4.5 metres - hence its name Maghok - underground.

The Gaokushon complex: the Medersa and the Khodja Mosque with its minaret represent styles of architecture unique to Bukhara: the medersa and the mosque are built side by side and their main façades face a small square with a pond.

Another of Bukhara's 'classic' styles is the 'koch' (twins) - two medersas facing each other. These include the Ulugbek Medersa, built in 1417, and the Medersa of Khan Abdelaziz.
Continuation of the city tour: Kalian Complex, or the "Foot of the Great". Admire the Palace of Forty Columns and Job's Well.

Discover the Ark citadel, which was the fortified residence of the Emir and his harem until 1920. It included palaces, barracks, the mint and the prison. Located on Reghistan Square, it was here that corporal punishment took place, including the famous trial of 72 strokes of the cane.
Opposite, visit the Bolo-Khaouz mosque, whose trees surrounding the pool and minaret provide a welcome haven of shade. Marble steps lead down to the dark but refreshing waters of the pool, built in the 16th century and which gave its name to the mosque (khaouz).
Dinner and folk concert in the courtyard of the Medresa Nodir Divan Begui. Night at the hotel

D6: Bukhara / Nurata / Yangi-Gazgan 285 km
Breakfast.
Departure for NURATA. On the way, visit the elegant 12th-century Vobkent minaret, the mausoleum of Abdulkholik Gijdouvoni and the 15th-century Ulughbek medersa in Gidjuvan.
Visit a ceramist's workshop in Gijdouvan. The Gijdouvan ceramics workshop is renowned throughout Uzbekistan and protected by UNESCO. This dynasty of ceramists works using a unique ancestral technology.

On arrival, visit the old town: fortress, natural spring with its sacred fish.
Lunch with the locals in Nurata and departure for the Kazakh yurt.
Arrival and camel ride. An unforgettable evening in the middle of the steppe.
Dinner in the yurt and Kazakh concert. Night in the yurt under the desert sky.

Yangi Gazgan
D7: Yangi-Gazgan / Aidarkul / Sentob /Asraf 125 km
Breakfast.
Departure for Lake Aidarkul. Walk along the shores of Lake Aidarkul. Swimming available. Then on to the village of Asraf. Visit the village, walk around and meet the locals. Dinner and overnight in a local home.

D8: ASRAF / UHUM / ASRAF
Breakfast. Then walk to Uhum village. Admire the village's manifold landscapes, petroglyphs of the ancient Mosque, destroyed houses on the hillside, petroglyphs on the mountains, panorama of the cellars, descent by the path to the lake. Visit an ancient site with Arabic writing, hike to the small waterfall and cool off in one of the small natural pools. The valley is ideal for bird watching and has a very diverse flora visit the ruins of Khisor Kala, visit the stone mill that works using mountain water. Dinner with the Uzbek family and overnight stay.

D9: Asraf / Samarkand 185 km journey or 2.5 HOURS
We have breakfast. Then on to SAMARCANDE, one of the oldest cities in the world. A former stopover on the Silk Road and a beacon of the Orient when Tamerlane was its master, its name is still shrouded in mystery and dreams. It is no longer "the face of the earth", nor even "the precious pearl of the Islamic world", and yet the sight of its monuments, its medersas, its minarets, its mosques (now restored) seems to reveal both the monuments of a prestigious civilisation and the expression of an art that has reached its peak.

The face of the old city of Samarkand today is that given to it in the 14th century by the emperor Tamerlane, who made it the prestigious capital of an immense empire stretching as far as the Black Sea and the Punjab in India, bringing together the most famous scholars of his time: poets, architects, painters, astronomers...
Arrival and check-in at the hotel. Free time before dinner.
Dinner in the restaurant. Night at the hotel.

THE REGHISTAN
D10: Samarkand
Then breakfast. Morning visit to the remains of the Ulughbek observatory (15th century). The observatory was designed for observing the sun, stars and sky. Ulughbek calculated the length of the celestial year.
Visit to the Afrosiab Museum, one of Samarkand's greatest archaeological monuments. The archaeological finds uncovered during the site's excavations are on display in the Samarkand History Museum located in the eastern part of the site.

Visit to St Daniel's Mausoleum. Set on the edge of the Afrosyab cliff overlooking the River Syab, the long mausoleum has five domes. It is the only place in Samarkand where all three faiths - Muslim, Christian and Jewish - are represented. It was built in the early 14th century by Tamerlane, who brought back the saint's bones from his campaign in Asia Minor.

Discover the Chakhi-Zinda necropolis. On the edge of Afrassiab, in the heart of a vast cemetery, lies the unique complex of Chakhi-Zinda (or Chah-i-Zindeh) mausoleums. This name refers to Koussam, son of Abbas and cousin of Mohammed, whose martyrdom here is thought to be the origin of these cult monuments.
Visit to the Bibi Khanoum mosque, which must have been the largest in Central Asia. Time has only spared the portal, two small side buildings and the large central mosque.
Stroll through the city's colourful Siyab bazaar.

Depart for a tour of the city, where you can discover the splendours of the Reghistan complex. This group of majestic, slightly leaning medersas, whose magnificently proportioned spaces are covered, almost to the point of excess, in earthenware and blue mosaics, is the city's centrepiece and undoubtedly the most impressive architectural site in Central Asia. It comprises the Ulugbek medersa, the Chir-Dor medersa and the Tilla-Kari medersa.

Visit the most famous monument in SAMARCANDE, which is also the symbol of the city: the Gour-Emir, a deformation of "Gouri-Mir" or "tomb of the Emir". As in other Muslim mausoleums, the slabs simply mark the location of the graves, which are located in an underground crypt. It is in this mausoleum that Timur, Ulug Beg and other members of his family are laid to rest. The interior of this mausoleum is sumptuous. Then there are the Roukhabad and Ak-Saraï mausoleums.
Dinner in the restaurant. Night at the hotel .

CHAKHR-I-SABZ
D11 : Samarkand / Tashkent (Afrosiyab express train)
Breakfast.
Visit the remains of the Ulughbek observatory (15th c.). The observatory was designed for observing the sun, stars and sky. Ulughbek calculated the length of the celestial year.
Visit to the Afrosiab Museum, one of Samarkand's greatest archaeological monuments. The archaeological finds uncovered during the site's excavations are on display in the Samarkand History Museum located in the eastern part of the site.

Visit to St Daniel's Mausoleum. Set on the edge of the Afrosyab cliff overlooking the River Syab, the long mausoleum has five domes. It is the only place in Samarkand where all three faiths - Muslim, Christian and Jewish - are represented. It was built in the early 14th century by Tamerlane, who brought back the saint's bones from his campaign in Asia Minor.

Transfer directly to Samarkand station for departure to Tashkent on the Afrosiyab express train at around 17:00, arriving in Tashkent at around 19:20.
Dinner in the restaurant. Transfer to hotel and overnight stay.

TASHKENT
D-12: Tashkent Q Your airport
Depending on flight times, breakfast will be taken either at the hotel or on the plane. Depending on flight times, transfer to TASHKENT airport.
Assistance with check-in formalities. Boarding and return flight. Service on board. Arrival at your airport