Programme and details
Uzbekistan · 10 Days / 9 Nights · Private Tour at an Easy Pace
Classic Uzbekistan at a Gentle Pace
Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara – Khiva – Tashkent
Samarkand to Bukhara takes under two hours on the ,Uzbekistan's high-speed train: Tashkent to Samarkand in 2 hours 30 minutes, Tashkent to Bukhara in about 4 hours. Tickets are tied to your passport. Read more → in a seat, with no airport queue. That is why the classic route suits travellers who dislike rushing better than the map suggests. We plan it the way we plan trips for our older guests: one move every two or three days, sightseeing in the morning, the afternoon to rest, a hotel close to the monuments, and your own guide and driver who adjust the day to how you feel.
| Duration | 10 days / 9 nights |
| Price | on request |
| Format | Private: your own guide and driver, on your dates |
| Where | Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva |
| Getting around | The Afrosiyob high-speed train Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva, a flight Urgench – Tashkent; a private car with driver in every city |
| Pace | Easy: one or two main sights a day, free afternoons |
| Best time | April–May and September–October |
Ideal for mature travellers, for anyone who would rather see less and see it well, and for couples and friends who want the four classic cities without long days.
Khiva — in by the high-speed train from Bukhara in about 3 h 30 min, out by air from Urgench, 30 km away: no long drive across the desert.
Three nights in Samarkand and in Bukhara: two unhurried half-days instead of one long day.
Itinerary
Day by Day
Day 1 · Tashkent — Arrival and rest
Our driver meets you at Tashkent airport and takes you to your hotel. The rest of the day has no programme. On a winter schedule, flights from London and Paris land before 6 a.m., so for an early arrival we book your room from the night before, and you can go straight to bed.
If you feel like going out in the evening, your guide can walk you round ,Did you know? Legend: “Strength lies in justice” were Timur's own words The equestrian statue of Amir Timur in central Tashkent, unveiled in 1994, bears the motto “Strength lies in justice” in four languages. Tradition attributes the words to Timur himself, but historians cannot confirm he said them. Read more → the city’s central square, a short drive from most central hotels.
Good to know: After a night flight, our CIP Arrival service takes you through the fast-track passport lane and helps with your luggage (on request).
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 2 · Tashkent — Hazrati Imam and the Center of Islamic Civilization
A late breakfast, then the old city by car. The The religious heart of old Tashkent: madrasahs, a Friday mosque and mausoleums. Right next to it stands the new Center of Islamic Civilization, opened in 2026. Read more → complex grew around the tomb of a 10th-century Tashkent scholar; around its big square stand the 16th-century Did you know? A mausoleum built for a khan who was buried in another city Barak-Khan Madrasah was built in 1531–32. One of its two mausoleums was meant for Barak Khan himself, but he was buried in Samarkand, so the tomb is still called the Nameless Mausoleum. Its cell doors were inlaid with ivory. Read more → 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. and two mosques. Next to it rises the Center of Islamic Civilization, opened in March 2026, with halls that run from Sogdiana to the Timurids. We book a timed slot in advance and take it slowly: this is the morning’s one long visit.
The afternoon is free. Hazrati Imam is a working religious site, so shoulders and knees are covered, and women bring a scarf.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 3 · Tashkent – Samarkand — The Afrosiyob in Business class
The driver takes you to Tashkent Central station. At the entrance you show your ticket and passport and bags are screened, so we arrive at least half an hour before the train. The Afrosiyob takes about 2 h 30 min to Samarkand, and we choose a morning train that does not need a dawn start.
Samarkand station is more than 6 km from 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 → our driver meets you on the platform and takes you to your hotel. The afternoon is for settling in. After dark, if you wish, we drive you to see the Registan lit up.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 4 · Samarkand — The Registan in the morning light, then Gur-e-Amir
The Registan opens at 8 a.m., and at that hour the low sun falls straight on the ,Did you know? Engineers pulled a leaning minaret back upright By 1920 a minaret of the Ulugh Beg Madrasah on the Registan was tilting. In 1932 engineer Vladimir Shukhov straightened it; the second minaret was set upright in 1965. Read more → which closes the west side of the square. With your guide you take the square slowly: three madrasas built over more than two centuries, and shade inside their courtyards.
Then the car takes you about a kilometre to ,Did you know? Timur's tombstone went to Persia and came back The dark-green jade slab on Timur's grave in Gur-e-Amir was carried off by Nader Shah in 1740. It broke, and on his advisers' urging he sent it back to Samarkand. Read more → the mausoleum of ,Amir Timur (Tamerlane, 1336–1405), founder of the Timurid empire, which had its capital in Samarkand. Born near Shahrisabz. completed in 1404, where his sons and grandsons, Did you know? Ulugh Beg measured the year to within 25 seconds Working at his Samarkand observatory, Ulugh Beg put the tropical year at 365 days 5 h 49 min 15 s, about 25 seconds too long, closer than Copernicus a century later. Read more → among them, are buried too. Lunch, and the afternoon is free.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 5 · Samarkand — Shah-i-Zinda, Bibi-Khanym and Siab Bazaar
We go to Shah-i-Zinda in the morning, before the heat. The necropolis begins with a steep stone staircase: we take it slowly, with the handrail, and stop at the top among tiled mausoleums built over eight centuries. It is still a place of pilgrimage, so shoulders and knees are covered.
The car then takes you to the ,Did you know? 95 elephants hauled stone for Timur's great mosque Bibi-Khanym, begun in 1399 after Timur took Delhi, was the largest mosque of his empire. Some 200 stonecutters worked on site and 95 elephants brought from India hauled the loads; the courtyard was meant to hold 10,000 people. Read more → Timur’s Friday mosque, and Samarkand's main bazaar, right next to Bibi-Khanym: Samarkand bread, dried fruit, nuts and halva. Read more → right next to it: dried fruit, nuts, sweets and many kinds of flatbread, and a good place for lunch.
In the afternoon, if you would like a quiet drive out of town, the village of A village near Samarkand where paper is made by hand from mulberry bark, the old way, at a working mill on the stream. is 13 km away: paper is still made there by hand at the Did you know? Paper polished with stone, made to last 400 years At the Meros mill in Konigil, founded in 1996 to revive a craft that had died out, a water wheel beats mulberry bark into pulp, and each sheet is polished for hours with agate, shell or horn. It is made to last some 400 years. Read more → mill, and a A teahouse: green tea, plov and conversation on wide wooden beds called topchan. stands by the river.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 6 · Samarkand – Bukhara — A short train ride, tea at Lyabi-Hauz
A free morning. If you want one more visit, the Did you know? A 7th-century mural shows envoys from Korea Uncovered by road builders in 1965, the Ambassadors' Painting at Afrasiyab shows delegations bearing gifts, Chinese with silk among them, and two men in feathered hats thought to be envoys from Korea's Goguryeo. Read more → museum keeps the 7th-century painting of King Varkhuman receiving foreign embassies; it is open from 9:00 to 17:00. Then the Afrosiyob to Bukhara, under 2 hours.
Bukhara’s station is in Kagan, about 12 km from the old town; our driver meets you and takes you to your hotel. In the evening, green tea on the wide wooden beds by the water at ,Did you know? Bukhara's ponds were once its water supply Pools like Lyabi-Hauz, dug around 1620 and 46 × 36 m, were the city's main source of water. Most were filled in during the 1920s–30s because they spread disease; Lyabi-Hauz survived. Read more → the square around a pond of about 1620.
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 7 · Bukhara — The Ark in the morning, Poi Kalyan at sunset
The Ark opens at 9:00, or 8:00 in season, and we are there before the heat settles on its courtyards. A ramp takes you up through the gate to the throne room and the museums. Across the square stands the Did you know? The famous columns of Bolo-Hauz are barely a century old The Bolo-Hauz mosque opposite the Ark was completed in 1712, but its best-known feature, the tall, slender carved columns along the front of the iwan, was added only in 1917, together with the small minaret of 1916–1917. Read more → mosque, whose carved wooden columns are reflected in its pond.
Lunch is ,Rice cooked in a kazan with carrots, onions and meat: the dish of every Uzbek celebration. Each region cooks it its own way. a midday dish in Bukhara, and the afternoon is free. When the sun is low, the car drops you near ,Did you know? Legend: the minaret's foundation was laid with camel milk Legend says master Bako laid the foundations of the Kalyan minaret with ganch plaster mixed with camel milk, then vanished for two years to let them harden, and only then built the tower. Locals still show a grave they say is his. Read more → about 500 m from Lyabi-Hauz: the Did you know? Diggers went 13 m down and never found its base The Kalyan Minaret of 1127 rises about 46 m, and an excavation reached 13 m without finding the bottom of its foundations. Genghis Khan reportedly ordered it spared. Read more → of 1127 between the Kalyan Mosque and the Did you know? A madrasah still teaching after almost 500 years Mir-i-Arab, built in the 1530s opposite the Kalyan Mosque, was one of only three Islamic schools that kept working through the Soviet period, and it still trains students today. Read more → madrasah, gold in the last light.
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 8 · Bukhara — The emir’s summer palace and the Samanid Mausoleum
In the morning the car takes you about 5 km north to ,Did you know? Legend: the emir's palace site was chosen with meat Legend says that when Emir Nasrullah wanted a summer palace in the mid-19th century, sheep carcasses were hung in several places around Bukhara, and the spot where the meat spoiled last was chosen. Sitorai Mohi-Hosa there today dates from 1912–1918. Read more → the summer palace built in 1912–1918 for the last emir: European outside, Bukharan inside, with suzani, porcelain and gold embroidery in its museum. On the way back, the Did you know? Buried in mud, this tomb escaped Genghis Khan The 10th-century Samanid Mausoleum, one of the oldest monuments of Islamic Central Asia, was covered by flood mud and sand before the Mongols came in 1220. Hidden for centuries, its brick lacework survived intact. Read more → in the park: a 10th-century cube of patterned brick, at its best in the side light of the morning.
The afternoon is free for the shade of the Did you know? Under Bukhara's domes merchants changed money and gold Four 16th-century trading domes still stand over old crossroads. Toki Sarrafon was the money changers' dome, where merchants from India and China swapped coins; Toki Zargaron held jewellers' workshops, Toki Telpak Furushon sold caps. Read more → or a rest. In the evening we can arrange dinner as guests of a local family (on request).
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 9 · Bukhara – Khiva — The high-speed train and the Kalta Minor in low sun
A late breakfast, then the high-speed Jaloliddin Manguberdi, which calls at Bukhara at about 11:00 and reaches Khiva at about half past two. Khiva station is under 2 km from the walls; the driver takes you and your luggage to a hotel inside or right by .Did you know? People still live inside Khiva's museum city Itchan Kala packs more than 50 historic monuments and about 250 old houses inside clay walls 8–10 m high and 5–6 m thick, and families still live and work in its lanes. Read more →
After a rest, a short walk with your guide through the West Gate to the ,Did you know? A 14-metre-wide base for a tower that stopped at 29 m Kalta Minor was begun in 1852 and meant to reach 70–80 m, but work halted in 1855 at about 29 m when its khan died. It is said to be the only minaret covered entirely in glazed tiles. Read more → begun in 1852 and never finished, the only minaret covered entirely in glazed tiles. The low sun turns its tiles turquoise. Dinner inside the walls.
Good to know: This train does not run out of Tashkent on Sundays, so we set the start date of the tour so that this day never falls on a Sunday.
Overnight in Khiva
Day 10 · Khiva – Tashkent — The Kunya Ark in the morning, a flight home
Itchan Kala measures about 650 by 400 metres, and the morning, before the groups arrive, is its quietest hour. With your guide: the ,The old fortress-residence of the khans of Khiva, inside the walls of Itchan Kala. the khans’ citadel beside the West Gate, and the Did you know? Khiva's Juma Mosque stands on 212 wooden columns Recorded as early as the 10th century and rebuilt in 1788, the Juma Mosque has no portal and no domes: its flat roof rests on 212 carved columns in 17 rows, and some of them are older than the building itself. Read more → with its hall of 212 carved wooden columns, no two alike.
Then the driver takes you 30 km to Urgench airport for the flight to Tashkent. In Tashkent, domestic flights use Terminal 3 and international flights Terminal 2, about 4 km apart: our driver meets you and takes you to your international flight or to your hotel.
Would you like Khiva without the morning rush? Add a second night there: the tour becomes 11 days, and we often recommend it.
Accommodation
Where you stay
| City | Stay |
|---|---|
| Tashkent | A central hotel in Tashkent, 2 nights |
| Samarkand | A hotel within walking distance of the Registan, 3 nights |
| Bukhara | A hotel in or by the old town, 3 nights |
| Khiva | A hotel inside or right by Itchan Kala, 1 night (2 nights on request) |
We confirm the hotels for your dates before booking. Not every small hotel in the old towns has a lift, so we ask for a ground-floor room or a room near the lift.
Price
Price
The price is given on request: it depends on the dates, the hotels, the train classes, the size of your group and the language of the guide.
Good to know
Conditions
- Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure, and the Afrosiyob and the Khiva train sell out: we book as soon as your dates are fixed.
- Tickets are issued to your passport: we need the full name and passport number of every traveller, and you travel with the same passport.
- We set the start date so that the train to Khiva does not fall on a Sunday.
- Paving in the old towns is uneven and some sights have steps: shoes with a good grip help, and a walking stick if you use one at home. If you use a wheelchair or find steps difficult, tell us when you book, and we plan each station, carriage and hotel with you.
- Bring your regular medicines with the prescription, and take insurance that covers treatment and medical evacuation.
- Reservations are confirmed with passport copies only.
Cancellation policy
| Cancellation timing | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 21 days before the service | 20% |
| 20–7 days | 50% |
| 6–0 days | 100% |
Transportation
| Vehicle | Group size |
|---|---|
| Chevrolet Cobalt | 2 pax |
| Hyundai Starex | 3–4 pax |
| Toyota Hiace / King Long | 5–8 pax |
| Mercedes Sprinter | 9–14 pax |
Vehicles may differ in make and colour.
🌿 Responsible tourism: we allocate part of our profits to good causes and are preparing for GSTC certification.
Expert opinion
Pluses
- An easy rhythm: one or two main sights a day in the morning, and the afternoon is yours.
- Few moves: three nights in Samarkand and in Bukhara, short train rides and a flight back from Khiva.
- Your own guide and driver: the car waits near each sight and the day adjusts to how you feel.
Minuses
- Less in ten days: no Shahrisabz, desert fortresses or mountains: the route keeps to the four classic cities.
- One night in Khiva: the morning there is short before the flight; a second night is possible.
- Steps in places: uneven paving in the old towns and a steep staircase at .Did you know? Why Shah-i-Zinda means 'the Living King' The necropolis grew around the shrine of Qutham ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Legend says he did not die in battle but went down a deep well to a garden of paradise, where he lives on. Read more →
AroundCA numbers
How we counted
By the AroundCA programme: we count only what is written in the day-by-day programme of this tour. If the programme gives no figure, we show nothing.
- Hotel changes
- 3
- Longest transfer
- 4 h · by train
- Walking
- Light
Best time
Apr–May, Sep–Oct
April–May and September–October: about 23–24°C by day in Bukhara, walking weather from morning to evening.
Better to avoid
Jul–Aug
July and August: about 37°C in Bukhara in July, when even short walks are tiring after 11 a.m.
A typical day
On day 7 you are at the Ark in Bukhara when it opens, before the heat reaches its courtyards, and cross the square to the Bolo-Hauz mosque. Lunch is plov, and the afternoon is free for a rest at the hotel. When the sun is low, the car drops you near Poi Kalyan, and you watch the Kalyan minaret turn gold, then walk back to Lyabi-Hauz for green tea by the water.
What the price includes
What is included
- Train tickets: the Afrosiyob in Business class Tashkent – Samarkand and Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva
- The flight Urgench – Tashkent
- Accommodation: 9 nights in central hotels with breakfast
- A private car with driver for all transfers and between the sights
- A private local guide in every city on the programme
- Entrance tickets on the programme
Not included
- Meals and drinks not on the programme
- CIP service at Tashkent airport and VIP lounges at the stations (on request)
- Dinner with a local family in Bukhara and the trip to Konigil (on request)
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- International flights, visa fees (if applicable) and travel insurance
- Tips and personal expenses
Extra cost on site
- CIP service at Tashkent airport and VIP lounges at the stations (on request)
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- Tips and personal expenses
Good for
- Mature travellers who want the four classic cities without long days
- Anyone who would rather see less and see it well, with time to rest every afternoon
- Couples and friends who want their own guide and driver and a day that bends to how they feel
Maybe not for you if
- Travellers who want to see as much as possible: Shahrisabz, the desert fortresses and the mountains are not on this route
- Anyone who needs fully step-free access: the old towns have uneven paving and some sights have stairs (tell us, and we plan around them)
- Those looking for a group tour: this one is private only
Questions about this tour
How much does the tour cost?
The price is given on request: it depends on the dates, the hotels, the train classes, the size of your group and the language of the guide.
How much walking is there?
Short walks in the mornings, with the car waiting near each sight. Bukhara and Khiva are compact; in Samarkand we drive between the monuments. Shah-i-Zinda begins with a steep stone staircase that we take slowly with the handrail, and climbing a minaret is always optional.
Which class do we travel in on the trains?
On the Afrosiyob we book Business class; the train also has VIP and Economy classes and a restaurant car. On the high-speed train to Khiva we book the most comfortable class available on your date. Tickets go on sale 60 days before departure and are issued to your passports.
Can we spend longer in Khiva?
Yes, and we often recommend it: with a second night in Khiva the tour becomes 11 days, and you have an evening and a full morning inside the walls without hurrying to the airport.
Can you help if walking or steps are difficult?
Yes. Tell us when you book: we ask the hotels for a lift or a ground-floor room and plan each station and carriage with you. Tashkent airport has free wheelchairs for passengers with reduced mobility, and help to and from the aircraft is requested from your airline when you book the ticket.
When is the best time to go?
April–May and September–October, when the average high in Bukhara is about 23–24°C. In July it reaches about 37°C in Bukhara, so in summer we see the sights before 11 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
Didn’t find your answer? Ask about this tour →
Make it your trip
Tick what you’d like to add — it goes into your request, and the manager confirms the final price.
