Places in this article: Samarkand · Tashkent · Tajikistan
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan: where to go in Central Asia
From our office in Tashkent, Bishkek is an hour and ten minutes away by air, and Did you know? The wild apples around Almaty are the ancestor of the apple In the Tien Shan foothills near Almaty grow forests of wild apple, Malus sieversii. A DNA study in 2010 confirmed it as the main ancestor of the apples we eat today. The city’s name is often linked to alma, the Kazakh word for apple. Read more → is one night on the train. So when travellers ask us which country of Central Asia to choose, our honest answer is often: start with one and add a neighbour. Still, each country has its own character, and the right first choice depends on what you are coming for.
We are a Tashkent company. Uzbekistan is the country we know best and where most of our tours run, and every season we also take guests across the border. Here is how the four countries compare: who each one suits, when to go, how many days to plan, how to get there and what the Entry rules depend on your passport. Once you are here, each stay must be registered within three days, and hotels do it for you; customs and registration rules are in our guide. Read more → picture looks like. Ready-made routes across the borders are in our guide to Central Asia tours.
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan: four countries at a glance
| Uzbekistan | Kyrgyzstan | Kazakhstan | Tajikistan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. cities, tiled architecture, food, fast trains | Mountains, yurt camps, high lakes, horse riding | Almaty and its mountains, canyons, the desert of Mangystau, open space | Big mountains: the Did you know? The Fann Mountains have about a hundred peaks The Fann Mountains, between the Zarafshan and Gissar ranges, have about a hundred peaks, eight of them over 5,000 m. The highest is Chimtarga (5,489 m), and among them lie the Kulikalon and Alauddin lakes and Iskanderkul. Read more → and the Did you know? Why the Pamirs are called the Roof of the World Since the 19th century the Pamirs have been known as the Roof of the World, probably a translation of a Persian name. Here rises Ismoil Somoni Peak, 7,495 m, the highest point of Tajikistan. Read more → |
| Best season | April–May and September–October | Late June to mid-September in the high mountains | Almaty: May–June and September; Mangystau: April–May and September–October | Late June to mid-September |
| How many days | 7–14 | 4–7 | 5 for Almaty and Astana, 8 for Mangystau | 4–5 for the Fann Mountains |
| From Tashkent | Flights to Tashkent; between the cities by fast train | About 1 h 10 min by air to Bishkek | Overnight train to Almaty, about 18 hours, or about 1 h 30 min by air | By road from Samarkand or Tashkent, or about 1 hour by air to Did you know? Tajikistan’s capital is literally called “Monday” Dushanbe means “Monday” in Tajik — literally “the second day after Saturday”. By tradition, a lively market was held here every Monday. The first records of a village with this name date from the 17th–18th centuries. Read more → |
| Visas, in general | 30 days visa-free for close to 90 countries; e-visa for others | Visa-free for 55 countries, 30 days in any 60; e-visa for others | 30 days visa-free for many countries, the EU, the UK, the USA and Japan among them | 30 days visa-free for the EU, the USA, Japan and others; e-visa for others |
Uzbekistan: Silk Road cities, food and fast trains
Choose Uzbekistan if you want the old cities of the caravan routes. Four of them are on the UNESCO World Heritage List: Samarkand, Bukhara, Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva, and Shahrisabz. In 2026 the modernist buildings of Tashkent joined the list too. This is the country of the ,Did you know? The Registan's sun-carrying lion went on a banknote The Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636) is named for the big cats with the sun on their backs on its portal. The image appeared on the reverse of Uzbekistan's 200-som note of 1997. Read more → of turquoise domes and of An Islamic college: student cells and classrooms around a courtyard behind a grand portal. In the old towns many now house museums and craft workshops. courtyards where you walk past the cells where students once lived.
The food is a reason in itself. ,Rice cooked in a kazan with carrots, onions and meat: the dish of every Uzbek celebration. Each region cooks it its own way. cooked in a big kazan for weddings and family gatherings, is on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage, and every region cooks it its own way. More in our article on plov in Uzbekistan.
Getting around is easy. The Uzbekistan's high-speed train: Tashkent to Samarkand in about 2 hours 10 minutes, Tashkent to Bukhara in about 4 hours. Tickets are tied to your passport. Read more → high-speed train takes you from Tashkent to Samarkand in about 2 hours 10 minutes, and since May 2026 a high-speed train also runs from Tashkent to Khiva; the details are in our article on trains in Uzbekistan. For a first trip we suggest 7 to 10 days, and our plan for Uzbekistan in 10 days covers the four great cities. The best months are April–May and September–October; July and August are hot in Bukhara and Khiva.
Kyrgyzstan: mountains, yurts and lakes in summer
Choose Kyrgyzstan if you want to sleep in a yurt and wake up in a mountain valley. This is the country of the :Did you know? The tulip's family tree is said to begin in the Tien Shan Long before Ottoman gardens and Dutch bulb fields, wild tulips grew in Central Asia's mountains, and the Tien Shan is often named as their homeland. In April they flower on the slopes around Chimgan. Read more → summer pastures, gorges and lakes high above the plains. Did you know? Song-Kul, at 3,016 m, is Kyrgyzstan’s largest freshwater lake Song-Kul lies at 3,016 m. It is the second-largest lake in Kyrgyzstan after Issyk-Kul and the largest of fresh water. In winter its ice grows to about a metre thick and melts only by late May; some 190 bird species have been recorded here. Read more → lies at 3,016 metres, and in summer yurt camps stand along its shores. ,Did you know? Issyk-Kul means 'hot lake', and it rarely freezes At 1,607 m, with harsh winters all around, Issyk-Kul rarely freezes because its water is slightly salty. It is 182 km long and up to 668 m deep, the second-largest mountain lake in the world after Titicaca. Read more → at 1,607 metres, is the second-largest mountain lake in the world and rarely freezes. The craft of making Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurts is on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage.
The season is short. The high yurt camps work from about mid-June to mid-September, and Song-Kul keeps its ice until late May. Lower down, the yurts in the Chunkurchak gorge, about 40 km south of Bishkek, usually open in May. From Tashkent you fly to Bishkek in an hour and ten minutes. Four days give you a taste of the mountains; a week takes you to Song-Kul and Issyk-Kul. Routes and practical notes are in our article on Kyrgyzstan in summer.
Kazakhstan: Almaty, the mountains and open space
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world, and you feel the distances: steppe, desert and mountains, with hours of open road in between. Most travellers start in Almaty, a green city at the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau. In one day you can ride the gondola from the Did you know? Medeu above Almaty is a rink at 1,691 m The Medeu rink opened in 1951 in a mountain gorge above Almaty, at 1,691 m. It is considered the largest high-mountain skating rink in the world, and speed skaters set dozens of world records on its ice. Read more → skating rink up to Shymbulak and watch the city lights from Kok-Tobe at dusk. Charyn Canyon, with walls of 150 to 300 metres, is about 200 km east of the city.
The other Kazakhstan lies far to the west, by the Caspian. Mangystau is desert with white chalk cliffs, the underground mosque of Shakpak-Ata cut into the limestone and the Karagiye depression, 132 metres below sea level. You fly from Almaty to Aktau and cross the plateau in a 4×4. Go in April–May or September–October, when the desert is not too hot. Almaty is at its best in May–June and in September.
From Tashkent, Almaty is one night away on the daily Talgo train, about 18 hours, or about an hour and a half by air. For the capital, Astana, with its Baiterek tower, you add a domestic flight.
Tajikistan: the Fann Mountains and the Pamirs
Tajikistan is the most mountainous of the four: mountains cover more than 90% of the country. It is also the closest neighbour to Samarkand. You cross at Jartepa and reach 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 → in the Zarafshan valley, the gateway to the Fann Mountains, 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 → and Lake .Did you know? Legend says Alexander's horse still comes out of Iskanderkul Legend says Bucephalus plunged into the lake and on full-moon nights comes out to graze; another tells that Alexander turned a river onto a rebel village. In fact the lake, 2,195 m up and 72 m deep, was dammed by a landslide. Read more → ,Did you know? Sarazm was a town before the pyramids of Giza were built Sarazm near Penjikent was settled from the 4th millennium BC and traded with lands from the Aral Sea to Iran and the Indus. In 2010 it became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tajikistan. Read more → a UNESCO site, lies right by the crossing. The trekking season in the Fann Mountains runs from late June to mid-September.
The Pamirs are a journey of their own, along the ,Did you know? The Pamir Highway climbs to 4,655 m The Pamir Highway, about 1,250 km long, is known as the second-highest international road in the world. Its top is the Ak-Baital pass at 4,655 m. Most of it was built in the 1930s, and the Osh–Khorog section was finished in 1937. Read more → about 1,252 km long, and they need a separate GBAO permit. Our Tajikistan travel guide covers the routes and the border.
Visas: the general picture
Entry rules depend on your passport, and they change. Before we book, we check every passport in the group against the current rules of each country on the route. As of October 2026, in general:
- Uzbekistan: citizens of close to 90 countries enter visa-free for 30 days; others apply for an e-visa. The details are in our guide do you need a visa for Uzbekistan.
- Kyrgyzstan: since 1 January 2026, citizens of 55 countries stay visa-free for up to 30 days in any 60-day period; other passports use the official e-visa portal.
- Kazakhstan: citizens of the EU, the UK, the USA, Japan and many other countries enter visa-free for 30 days, up to 90 days in any 180.
- Tajikistan: citizens of the EU, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and a number of other countries enter visa-free for up to 30 days; others need an e-visa. The Pamirs need a GBAO permit.
If you travel on an Uzbek e-visa and plan to come back after a neighbour, apply for a double- or multiple-entry one.
How to combine them
You do not have to choose just one. Most of our guests start with Uzbekistan and add a neighbour for the mountains, and some of our own tours are built that way:
- Tashkent, Bishkek and Almaty, 8 days in three countries: Tashkent, two nights in a yurt in the Chunkurchak gorge, then by road across the border to Almaty.
- Yurts in Chunkurchak and Bishkek, 4 days, an easy add-on to Uzbekistan for families and couples.
- Almaty and Astana, 5 days: the mountains above Almaty, then the capital.
- Mangystau, the Caspian and the Ustyurt Plateau, 8 days in the desert of western Kazakhstan.
- The 23-day Silk Road tour through all five countries of Central Asia.
On our tours a guide who speaks your language is included in the price, and we are on call 24/7 while you travel, border days included. See all our tours by country: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. A road trip through southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan is in our article on a loop from Tashkent. If you can travel in June or September, the cities and the mountains are both at their best.
In short
- Uzbekistan is for Silk Road cities, architecture, food and easy trains; go in spring or autumn and plan 7 to 14 days.
- Kyrgyzstan is for yurts, horses and high lakes, from late June to mid-September.
- Kazakhstan is for Almaty and its mountains, and for the desert of Mangystau in spring and autumn.
- Tajikistan is for big mountains: the Fann Mountains are close to Samarkand, while the Pamirs need a longer trip and a permit.
- June and September suit a combined trip best; check the visa rules for every passport and every country.
© Photos
- The Afrosiyob train at Tashkent Central station — Nikolai Bulykin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The white pinnacles of the Bozzhyra valley from the viewpoint, Mangystau, Kazakhstan — Максат79 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kulikalon Lake and the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan — Adam Harangozó / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Chunkurchak gorge with yurts along the river, Chuy region, Kyrgyzstan — Arzybek Mallabaev / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
