Deutsch
English
Español
Français
Italiano
Polski
Português
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
Русский
עברית
한국어
中文
日本語
Places in this article: Samarkand · Tashkent · Termez · Tajikistan
Jeep tours in Uzbekistan: four 4×4 routes from Tashkent, Samarkand, Termez and Nukus
Above ,Did you know? Penjikent's walls showed Rustam long before Ferdowsi From the 5th to the 8th century the Sogdian houses of ancient Penjikent were painted with feasts, gods and the hero Rustam, centuries before Ferdowsi wrote the Shahnameh. Many murals are now in the Hermitage and in Dushanbe. Read more → a jeep road climbs the Shing valley past seven lakes, one above the other, from turquoise to deep green. In the far south, dirt tracks run into the canyons of .Did you know? Legend makes the Baysun hills the home of the hero Alpamysh Legend, as told in the Uzbek epic Alpamysh, makes the hero a son of the Baysun-Kungrat land. Scholars think this version took shape among the Kungrat tribe in the south, who brought an older tale with them from the Aral region. Read more → In Karakalpakstan, the last stretch to the Did you know? Part of the Aral Sea is coming back In 2005 the 12-km Kokaral dike was completed to keep the Syr Darya's water in the North Aral Sea. The level rose faster than expected, the water grew less salty, and fish and fishing returned. Read more → is a track along the edge of the ,Did you know? Giant stone “arrows” on the Ustyurt plateau were hunting traps Along the Ustyurt cliffs run low stone walls called arans, laid out as arrows, triangles and even stars. Saiga and gazelles run along a wall rather than over it, so hunters steered herds into pens. They were used from the Bronze Age on. Read more → past cliffs that drop to the old seabed. In places like these a jeep tour in Uzbekistan makes sense, because the car is what gets you there.
We are a tour operator in Tashkent and we run four 4×4 routes: into the mountains above Tashkent, across the border to the ,Did you know? Each of the Seven Lakes has its own name and colour The Haftkul lakes climb from about 1,600 m to 2,400 m. Their names mean 'eyelashes', 'shadow', 'vigilance' and 'small', among others; the largest is Marguzor, and the highest, Hazorchashma, means 'a thousand springs'. Read more → through Did you know? Baysun's whole way of life is on UNESCO's heritage list In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed the Cultural Space of Boysun District a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and in 2008 it joined the Representative List: old rituals, songs, crafts and the Boysun Bahori spring festival. Read more → in the south and out to the Aral Sea. Each one is private. The jeep, the driver and the guide work for your group alone, on dates you choose within the season.
Four jeep routes at a glance
| Route | Start | Days | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Tashkent | Tashkent | 4 | ,Mountains of the Western Tien Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → the Pskem valley, the Ugam range |
| Seven Lakes | Samarkand | 4 | Penjikent and the seven lakes of the Shing valley, Tajikistan |
| Baysun | Termez | 6 | Derbent, the canyons of Baysuntau, ,Did you know? A Neanderthal was found in a cave in the Baysun mountains In 1938 Alexey Okladnikov found a Neanderthal child's skull in Teshik-Tash cave, with pairs of ibex horns around it. Some see an early ritual, others chance. DNA has since confirmed the find as Neanderthal. Read more → the Sangardak waterfall |
| Aral Sea | Nukus, by air from Tashkent | 2 | ,Did you know? A music festival is held among Muynak's old fishing boats Since 2018 the Stihia festival of electronic music, art and science has gathered in Muynak, once a port on the Aral Sea, right beside the ships left on the sand. It ends by burning a 10-metre installation of the word SEA. Read more → the Ustyurt plateau, the Aral shore |
We quote each route for your dates and group size. With more people in the car, the price per person goes down.
High Tashkent: four days in the Western Tien Shan
For most people in Tashkent, Chimgan is a weekend trip. On the Jeep Expedition: High Tashkent you get four days in the same mountains. On day one you drive past Lake ,Did you know? The lake below Chimgan is held back by a 168-metre dam Charvak is a reservoir: a 168 m stone dam on the Chirchiq, built in 1964–1970, holds about 2 km³ of water from the Pskem, Koksu and Chatkal rivers. Its name is traced to the Persian chorbog, "four gardens". Read more → the reservoir where the Pskem, Did you know? Snow leopards live in a reserve near Tashkent The Chatkal Biosphere Reserve, founded in 1947, spans 1,500–3,900 m on the Chatkal Range. It protects 770 plant species and rare animals including the snow leopard and Menzbier's marmot. Read more → and Koksu rivers meet, and on up to Chimgan for the night and dinner by the fire.
Day two follows the Pskem. For more than 40 km the river runs through its own valley between the Ugam and Pskem ranges, with wild apple, apricot and walnut trees on its banks, before it reaches Charvak. Lunch is a hot picnic by the road. Day three goes towards the Ugam range, inside the ,Did you know? A marmot found almost nowhere else on Earth Menzbier's marmot, the smallest marmot of the Palearctic, has the smallest range of its kind, in the Western Tien Shan at 2,000–3,600 m. It sleeps through winter from August or September until spring. Read more → and has no fixed plan. It might be a gorge, a mountain village, a short trek or a viewpoint, depending on the weather and the road that day.
The trip starts and ends in Tashkent, so it fits before or after the cities or a flight. If you have one free day rather than four, see our Chimgan and Charvak day trip.
Seven Lakes: from Samarkand across the border
The Seven Lakes, Haftkul, lie in a chain in the Shing valley above Penjikent, just across the border from Samarkand: Nejigon, Soya, Khushyor, Nofin, Khurdak, Did you know? Legend says the Marguzor lakes are seven sisters hidden by God Legend says seven sisters of the Marguzor valley fled from seven divs, the giants of folk tales, and God hid the girls by turning them into lakes and the divs into mountains. Geologists say landslides dammed the Shing gorge. Read more → and Hazorchashma. The jeep road passes all seven.
The Jeep Expedition: Seven Lakes starts in Samarkand with a briefing on the evening you arrive. On day two we cross the border and change into local 4×4s with drivers who know the valley. We drive up to the first four lakes and spend the night in a guesthouse near the water. On day three we go on to Hazorchashma, the seventh and farthest lake, and stop along the way for tea, a picnic and short walks. On day four you are back in Samarkand.
Border rules depend on your passport, and we check them with you before departure. Our Tajikistan guide covers the border posts. With only one day to spare, there is the Penjikent and Seven Lakes extension from Samarkand.
Baysun: six days in the wild south
Baysun sits under Baysuntau, a spur of the Hissar range in the far south of Uzbekistan, with walnut and juniper on the slopes and deep canyons below. The Wild Expedition: Baysun starts at Termez airport. On day one the jeeps go through Derbent and the ,Did you know? The Iron Gates pass really was shut by iron-clad doors In 630 the pilgrim Xuanzang described the narrow Iron Gates gorge near Derbent as a passage closed by double doors sheathed in iron. The wall across it is older still: it is dated to the Graeco-Bactrian king Euthydemus, 3rd century BC. Read more → the narrow pass on the old road between Bactria and Sogdiana.
Days two to four are spent in Baysun and the Baysuntau mountains: the market and the mahallas, mountain villages, dirt roads and canyons, and a jeep route to Teshik-Tash. In this cave the archaeologist A. P. Okladnikov found the remains of a Neanderthal child in 1938. The guide chooses each day's line by the weather, the road surface and your pace. On day five the road crosses southern Did you know? Central Asia's largest ancient gold hoard came from Surkhandarya In 1972 archaeologists at Dalverzin Tepe, an ancient Kushan city in Surkhandarya, found 115 gold objects weighing 36 kg in all: ingots and jewellery of the 1st century AD. It is the largest gold treasure ever found in Central Asia. Read more → to the Sangardak waterfall and then returns to Termez.
Baysun's folk culture is on UNESCO's list as the Cultural Space of Boysun District. Our guide to Baysun and Surkhandarya tells that side of the story.
Aral Sea: two days from Nukus
Muynak was once a port on the Aral Sea. Today the water is about 150 km away, and old fishing boats stand on the sand of the former seabed. To reach the shore you cross the Ustyurt plateau, and only a 4×4 can make the drive.
The Aral Sea Extension takes two days. You fly from Tashkent to Nukus in the morning and go by 4×4 to Muynak and its ship cemetery, then across the Ustyurt to the Aral shore for a night in a camp by the water. On day two the jeep comes back over the plateau past Sudochie Lake and the old necropolis of ,Did you know? Legend says Mizdakhan's little brick towers grant wishes Legend says that if you stack a column of seven bricks at the Mizdakhan necropolis near Nukus, your wish comes true; another tale says each column adds seven years to the life of the world. The hill site holds ruins from many centuries. Read more → to Nukus and the evening flight to Tashkent. It fits well into a route through Khiva, and you can pair it with the Savitsky Museum in Nukus.
How our jeep tours work
- The vehicle, the driver and the guide are for your group only.
- On mountain days the guide picks the route by the weather and the road surface.
- Every route includes the 4×4 with a driver, the nights on the route and a guide. The full list is on each tour page. Flights to the start city are extra, except on the Aral extension, where the Tashkent–Nukus flights are included.
- Each route can be added to a classic trip through Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. Send us your dates and we will plan the whole trip.
In short
- We run four private 4×4 routes: High Tashkent (4 days), Seven Lakes from Samarkand (4 days), Baysun from Termez (6 days) and the Aral Sea from Nukus (2 days).
- The jeep is the point: it takes you up the Pskem valley, to the seventh lake, into the canyons of Baysuntau and to the Aral shore.
- Mountain days follow the weather and the road, and the guide adjusts the plan on the spot.
- The Seven Lakes route crosses into Tajikistan; we check the border rules for your passport before departure.
- Prices are quoted for your dates and group size: send a request from the tour page, for example High Tashkent.
© Photos
- The sixth of the Seven Lakes (Haftkul), Fann Mountains, Tajikistan — Шухрат Саъдиев / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sangardak waterfall, Surkhandarya — Jonibek Qo'zimurodov / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
