Uzbekistan itinerary for 14 days: 2 weeks from the Fergana Valley to Khiva

Between Angren, which it leaves at 10:25, and Pap, where it stops at noon, the morning train to the Fergana Valley spends a long stretch inside a mountain. The Kamchik tunnel runs 19.2 km under the Qurama range and has been open since 2016; it is the longest tunnel in Central Asia. On a one-week trip the valley never makes the cut. With two weeks it does, and so do Shahrisabz, the desert fortresses beyond Khiva and a last day in the mountains. This is how we lay out 14 days.

Uzbekistan itinerary for 14 days: the plan

Two weeks let you go east first, into the Fergana Valley, and only then west along the classic line of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. From the far west we come back by air and keep the last day for the mountains outside Tashkent.

Day	Where	How the day goes
1	Tashkent	Arrival; the city in the afternoon and evening
2	Tashkent	A full day in the capital
3	Tashkent → Kokand → Rishtan → Margilan	Train at 09:20, in Kokand at 12:28; the khan’s palace, then by car to the potters of Rishtan; night in the valley
4	Margilan → Tashkent	Morning at the Yodgorlik silk factory and the bazaar; train at 16:11, in Tashkent at 19:53
5	Tashkent → Samarkand	Afrosiyob, about 2 h 30 min; the afternoon in Samarkand
6	Samarkand	A full day
7	Samarkand → Shahrisabz → Samarkand	Day trip over the Takhtakaracha pass, about 90 km each way
8	Samarkand → Bukhara	Afrosiyob, under 2 hours; the afternoon in the old town
9	Bukhara	A full day
10	Bukhara → Khiva	High-speed train, about 3.5 hours; in Khiva at about 14:30
11	Khiva	A full day inside Itchan Kala
12	Khiva → Ayaz-Kala	About 100 km by car to the desert fortresses; night in a yurt camp
13	Ayaz-Kala → Urgench → Tashkent	70–80 km by road to Urgench airport, then a flight of about 1.5 hours
14	Amirsoy or Chimgan	A day in the mountains, 65–85 km from the city; flight home

Only one day in this plan is tied to the calendar: day 10. The fast train to Khiva leaves Tashkent at 07:00 every day except Sunday and picks up passengers in Samarkand and Bukhara on the way, so on a Sunday there is no fast train out of Bukhara either. Day 10 falls on a Sunday only if you land on a Friday. So do not land on a Friday, or use the Friday fix further down. The Fergana Valley trains run every day. We check the current timetable on eticket.railway.uz before booking anything else.

The Fergana Valley in two days

Since 10 September 2026 the Tashkent–Andijan line has had a new Chinese-built CRRC electric train. Number 730 leaves Tashkent at 09:20 every day, is in Kokand at 12:28 and in Margilan at 13:00. Number 729 comes back: it leaves Margilan at 16:11 and is in Tashkent at 19:53. That makes the valley a two-day trip with one night, not an expedition.

Kokand. You get off here and spend the early afternoon at the palace that Khudoyar Khan completed around 1870. Much of it was lost, but what survives has carved and painted ceilings and a facade of glazed tiles, and it has been a museum since 1925. The throne in the throne room is a copy: the original is in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

Rishtan. From Kokand we continue by car to Rishtan, the potters’ town of the valley. The local clay is red, and the blue-green glaze called ishkor is made from mineral pigments and the ash of burnt plants; families keep their recipes to themselves. In the workshops you see the wheel, the painting and the kiln, and you buy the dishes from the people who made them. We spend the night in the valley, in Margilan or Fergana.

Margilan. The next morning belongs to the Yodgorlik silk factory. Here the whole chain is done by hand: cocoons are boiled, the thread is reeled and dyed, and the ikat is woven on traditional looms. After the factory and the bazaar there is still time for lunch before the 16:11 train. More on the crafts in our article on ceramics, carpets and suzani.

Samarkand, Shahrisabz and Bukhara

On day 5 the Afrosiyob takes you from Tashkent to Samarkand in about 2 h 30 min. Samarkand gets three nights, and one full day goes to Shahrisabz, Timur’s home town, about 90 km away over the Takhtakaracha pass. How we plan that day is in our article on the Shahrisabz day trip, and how to split the time in the city itself is in Samarkand in 1, 2 or 3 days.

From Samarkand to Bukhara the Afrosiyob takes under two hours, so you arrive in time for lunch and have the afternoon in the old town. Bukhara gets two nights, and its last morning is unhurried: the Khiva train comes through Bukhara only in the late morning. How to choose a train and buy tickets is in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan.

Khiva, the desert fortresses and Nukus

The fast train is in Khiva at about half past two, which leaves the evening and the whole of day 11 for Itchan Kala, the walled inner town and the first site in Uzbekistan on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1990.

On day 12 we cross the Amu Darya into Karakalpakstan to Ayaz-Kala: three fortresses on the hills at the edge of the Kyzylkum, built between the 4th century BC and the 7th century AD to hold off nomad raids. The oldest stands on the highest hill, and the climb gives you a view over the plain. At the foot of the hills there is a yurt camp, and that is where we spend the night.

On day 13 it is 70–80 km by road to Urgench airport, and the Uzbekistan Airways flight to Tashkent takes about 1 h 20 min to 1 h 30 min in the air.

The Nukus option. Ayaz-Kala lies on the way from Khiva to Nukus, about 150 km short of the city. If art is high on your list, we drive on to Nukus instead and fly to Tashkent from there; the flight is also about an hour and a half. Nukus has the Savitsky Museum, founded in 1966, whose collection of Russian avant-garde art of the 1920s and 1930s is among the largest anywhere. We check the museum’s opening days when we book. The Aral Sea is a trip of its own; see our guide to the Aral.

The last day: mountains outside Tashkent

After twelve days of cities and desert, we end in the mountains. Amirsoy is 65 km from Tashkent and Chimgan about 85 km. In July the afternoon at Chimgan averages about ten degrees cooler than in the city; from December to March there is skiing. What is where is in our article on the mountains near Tashkent.

This day works when your flight home leaves in the evening or at night. If it leaves in the morning, go to the mountains on day 2 instead and give the city the evening of day 13. The train days do not move.

2 weeks in Uzbekistan your way

• Landing on a Friday: give the valley a second night. Day 4 is a full day in Margilan, you take the 16:11 train on day 5, and everything after moves one day later, so the Khiva train runs on a Monday. The mountain day drops out: on day 14 you fly from Urgench to Tashkent and on home.
• Back by train instead of by air: the fast train leaves Khiva at 07:15 or 07:20 every day except Monday and is in Tashkent at about three in the afternoon. You lose Ayaz-Kala, but not a day.
• Fewer days: see our plan for Uzbekistan in 7 days, or ready-made routes such as the 10-day off-the-beaten-path tour, the 11-day classic route and the 12-day photo tour. For more time in the mountains there is the High Tashkent jeep expedition.

Before you go, see our guides to the visa, flights, when to go, where to stay and cards and cash. To match a route to your interests, try the tour finder.

In short

• Two weeks fit the Fergana Valley, Samarkand with Shahrisabz, Bukhara, Khiva with the desert fortresses, and a day in the mountains.
• Fergana Valley: train 730 at 09:20 from Tashkent, Kokand 12:28, Margilan 13:00; back at 16:11 from Margilan, in Tashkent at 19:53, every day.
• The one calendar rule: the fast train to Khiva does not run on Sundays, so in this plan do not land on a Friday.
• From the far west, fly back to Tashkent from Urgench or Nukus, about 1.5 hours.
• End in the mountains only if your flight home leaves in the evening; otherwise go on day 2.