Programme and details
Uzbekistan · 10 Days / 9 Nights · Private Tour
The Silk Road on Foot and by Rail
Tashkent – Chimgan – Tashkent – Samarkand – Chor-Chinor – Samarkand – Bukhara – Khiva – Tashkent
The old towns of Uzbekistan were built for people on foot. 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 → 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 → is 700 metres along a pedestrian street; from 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 → to 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 → about 500; from the end of the railway line in Khiva to the walls of ,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 → half an hour’s walk. This private tour is built around that: every city on foot with your guide, the high-speed trains in between, a day of walking in the mountains above Tashkent, a morning under the ancient plane trees of Chor-Chinor, and tea wherever the walk pauses. It starts on a Wednesday and ends on a Friday, to fit the nonstop flights from London.
| Duration | 10 days / 9 nights |
| Price | on request |
| Format | Private, or a small group on your dates |
| Where | Tashkent, the Chimgan mountains, Samarkand, Urgut, Bukhara and Khiva |
| Getting around | On foot in the old towns; the Afrosiyob high-speed train Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva, a flight Urgench – Tashkent; a car with driver for the airport, the stations and the trips out of town |
| Walking | Several hours a day on foot in the cities, on flat streets and some stairs; one day of medium-difficulty mountain walking, which can be swapped for an easier day |
| Guide | Your guide speaks English — included in the price |
| Best time | April–May and September–October |
Ideal for travellers from the UK who like to explore on foot, for walkers who want one day on a mountain trail without a trekking holiday, and for anyone with a week and a half around a bank holiday or half-term.
Chor-Chinor — “four plane trees”, a grove of giant chinars around a spring-fed pond near Urgut, about 40 km from Samarkand.
Choyxona — the ,A teahouse: green tea, plov and conversation on wide wooden beds called topchan. where you often sit on a tapchan, a raised wooden platform with cushions.
Itinerary
Day by Day
Day 1 · Tashkent — Arrival, Chorsu and the old city
Our driver meets you at Tashkent airport. In winter the nonstop flight from London lands at 05:55, so we book your room from the night before and you can go straight to bed.
In the afternoon your guide takes you underground: Did you know? Tashkent’s Chorsu dome is younger than the city’s metro Trade at the old crossroads is centuries old, but the domed building opened only in 1990, thirteen years after the metro. Architects Vladimir Azimov and Sabir Adylov gave it a main dome of 86 m ringed by seven smaller ones. Read more → has its own Did you know? A metro designed to ride out a magnitude-9 earthquake The three original lines of the Tashkent Metro were built to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, and the tunnels lie unusually shallow, only 8–25 m below the street. Read more → station. Under the blue dome of Tashkent's old bazaar under a big blue-green dome, not far from Hazrati Imam. Bring cash in so'm. Read more → the stalls sell dried fruit, spices and bread, and the lanes of the old city lead on to 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, which 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.
At the end of the day, tea. Green tea is the national drink, but in Tashkent most people pour black.
Good to know: Hazrati Imam is a working religious site: shoulders and knees covered, and women bring a scarf.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 2 · Tashkent – Chimgan – Tashkent — A day on the mountain
A morning drive of about an hour and a half to the Chimgan mountains, part of 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 Tian Shan at 2,000–3,600 m. It sleeps through winter from August or September until spring. Read more → in the western .Did you know? The tulip's family tree is said to begin in the Tian Shan Long before Ottoman gardens and Dutch bulb fields, wild tulips grew in Central Asia's mountains, and the Tian Shan is often named as their homeland. In April they flower on the slopes around Chimgan. Read more → With a mountain guide you walk for the day and stop for a picnic on the way. The route is chosen on the day by the weather and by how you feel: from two hours above the Chimgan resort, which sits at about 1,600 m, to the pass between Greater and .Did you know? A wild tulip that grows nowhere but these mountains Tulipa butkovii is endemic to the western Chatkal Range. It was described from bulbs collected in 1959 on the slopes of Little Chimgan and flowers in April and May. Read more →
The hike is of medium difficulty, so tell us about your fitness when you book. In July the afternoon at Chimgan averages 26.2 °C, against 35.9 °C in Tashkent. Back in Tashkent for dinner.
Good to know: The mountain season is May to October. From December to March, or if you would rather not hike, we take you to Amirsoy instead, where gondolas climb to 2,290 m, with lunch and the cable car at Chinorkent.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 3 · Tashkent – Samarkand — The Afrosiyob and the Registan on foot
A morning transfer to Tashkent Central and the Afrosiyob to Samarkand, about 2 h 10 min. At the entrance you show your ticket and passport and bags are screened, so we arrive at least half an hour before the train. Our driver meets you at Samarkand station, more than 6 km from the centre.
In the afternoon, Samarkand on foot. The Registan first: three madrasahs built between 1417 and 1660 around one square. Then about 700 m north along the pedestrian street to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Amir Timur (Tamerlane, 1336–1405), founder of the Timurid empire, which had its capital in Samarkand. Born near Shahrisabz.’s Friday mosque, and Samarkand's main bazaar, right next to Bibi-Khanym: Samarkand bread, dried fruit, nuts and halva. Read more → right beside it: dried fruit, nuts, sweets and many kinds of bread.
After dark, if you have the legs for it, a walk back to see the Registan lit up.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 4 · Samarkand — Shah-i-Zinda, Ulugh Beg’s stars and the paper mill
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 → in the morning, before the heat: a stone staircase, then one lane of tiled mausoleums built over eight centuries. It is still a place of pilgrimage, so shoulders and knees are covered.
Then the 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 → of Ulugh Beg, Timur’s grandson, on the hill beyond. His astronomers charted 992 stars, and Europe first read their catalogue in 1665, when Thomas Hyde published it in Oxford. The sextant had a radius of 40 metres, and the archaeologist Vasily Did you know? A former teacher found the lost observatory in 1908 After Ulugh Beg's death his observatory was taken apart for its bricks and even its site was forgotten. Vasily Vyatkin, keeper of Samarkand's monuments, traced it through a 17th-century land deed and in 1908 dug up the great marble arc. Read more → found its buried arc in 1908; today you see its lower section, cut into the rock of the hill and roofed over.
In the afternoon a short drive to 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. 13 km away, where 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 → workshop makes paper from mulberry bark, with a mill that a stream turns. The craft died out in the 19th century and was revived here in 1996. A teahouse stands by the river.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 5 · Samarkand – Urgut – Samarkand — Chor-Chinor and Gur-e-Amir
About an hour’s drive south-east, to Urgut, where the northern slopes of the Zarafshan range begin. Near the town lies Chor-Chinor, “four plane trees”: several dozen giant chinars around a spring-fed pond. The tallest reach about 35 metres, the thickest trunks are up to 16 metres round, and the age estimates run from about 600 years for the youngest trees to more than 1,000 for the oldest. Local legend says the first four were planted around the spring in the 9th century. Beside the pond stands a small domed mosque of 1915; pilgrims come here as well as travellers, so dress modestly.
This day falls on a Sunday, when the Urgut bazaar, the biggest crafts market in the Samarkand region, is at its fullest: Did you know? One suzani was often stitched by several women at once A family member or a pattern drawer, the kalamkash, drew the design across strips of cotton. The strips went to different women of the family or neighbourhood, who embroidered them at the same time; sewn back together, they show slightly mismatched seams. Read more → embroidery old and new, carpets, metalwork, ceramics and wooden chests. Come ready to bargain.
Back in Samarkand, 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 → at the end of the day, about a kilometre from the Registan: the mausoleum of Timur, completed in 1404, where his sons and grandsons, Ulugh Beg among them, are buried too.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 6 · Samarkand – Bukhara — Afrasiyab, the train west and tea at Lyabi-Hauz
In the morning, 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 on the site of ancient Samarkand. It keeps the 7th-century painting of King Varkhuman receiving foreign embassies; a six-metre wall painting from the same Hall of the Ambassadors was shown at the British Museum in London in 2024–25.
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 there.
In the evening, Lyabi-Hauz, the square around a pond of about 1620, with green tea at the teahouse tables by the water. From there it is a ten-minute walk through the lanes to ,Did you know? Legend: four towers for four world religions? Chor Minor, a gatehouse of 1807, has four towers, each decorated differently. Guides say they stand for four world religions and look for a cross, a fish and a prayer wheel in the decor; others say four dynasties. All are interpretations. Read more → the gatehouse of 1807 with four blue-domed towers.
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 7 · Bukhara — The old town end to end
A day on foot with your guide. From Lyabi-Hauz, past 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 → about 500 m to ,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 → where the Kalyan minaret of 1127, 46.5 metres of patterned brick, stands 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.
On to ,The fortress-residence of the rulers of Bukhara on a high artificial hill: the oldest structure in the city. Read more → the fortress of Bukhara’s rulers, which opens at 9:00, or 8:00 in season; a ramp takes you up through the gate. 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. The walk ends in the park at 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 → a brick tomb from the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, whose pattern changes with the light.
In the evening you can have dinner with a local family (on request).
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 8 · Bukhara – Khiva — The high-speed train and the walk in
In the late morning, the Jaloliddin Manguberdi high-speed train stops in Bukhara on its way from Tashkent to Khiva. It runs via Urgench and reaches Khiva at about half past two, some 3 h 30 min later.
Khiva station, opened in 2018, is the end of the line, and from here to the walls of Itchan Kala is a half-hour walk: your guide walks in with you, and the driver takes the luggage to the hotel.
At the end of the afternoon, 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 → in the low light, its tiles glowing turquoise against the clay of the old town.
Good to know: The train does not leave Tashkent on Sundays; this day of the tour falls on a Wednesday.
Overnight in Khiva
Day 9 · Khiva – Tashkent — Itchan Kala, then the flight back
A morning in Itchan Kala with your guide, all of it on foot: in through ,Did you know? Khiva’s four gates are the Father, Garden, Strongman and Stone Itchan Kala’s four gates face the points of the compass: Ota-Darvoza, the “Father Gate”, in the west; Bogcha-Darvoza, the “Garden Gate”, in the north; Polvon-Darvoza, the “Strongman’s Gate”, in the east; Tosh-Darvoza, the “Stone Gate”, in the south. Read more → the west gate, to the Kalta Minor and the ;Did you know? In the khan’s courtyard a round platform waited for a yurt The Kunya-Ark, the khans’ citadel, had its own mint, arsenal and harem. In the courtyard of its reception hall of 1804–1806 stands a round platform: a yurt was set up on it, and there the khan received envoys of the steppe nomads. Read more → along the main street past 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 → and its hall of carved wooden columns; then south to the .Did you know? Khiva's tallest minaret is barely a century old The Islam Khoja Minaret was begun in 1908, near the very end of the khans' era. At 56.6 m it is one of the tallest in Central Asia; a spiral stair of 175 steps leads up to its windowed top. Read more →
If the minaret is open that day, a spiral staircase of 175 brick steps leads to windows at about 45 metres, the highest viewpoint in Khiva. Whether it is open is decided at the ticket office, so we never promise the climb.
Later in the day, a drive of about 30 km to Urgench airport and the flight to Tashkent. Our driver meets you and takes you to your hotel.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 10 · Departure — The flight home
At the agreed time, our driver takes you to Tashkent airport. In winter the nonstop flight to Heathrow leaves at 13:45 on Fridays, and in summer at 11:10, so the morning is short: breakfast and an unhurried drive.
Accommodation
Where you stay
| City | Stay |
|---|---|
| Tashkent | A hotel in Tashkent, 2 nights on arrival (the first booked from the night before for the dawn landing) and 1 night before departure |
| Samarkand | A hotel in Samarkand, 3 nights |
| Bukhara | A hotel in Bukhara, 2 nights |
| Khiva | A hotel in Khiva, 1 night |
We confirm the hotels, the train tickets and the flight for your dates before booking.
Price
Price
The price is given on request: it depends on the dates, the hotels, the train classes and the size of your group.
Good to know
Conditions
- British citizens enter Uzbekistan without a 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 → for tourism or business visits of up to 30 days (rules as of October 2026). The passport must be valid at least three months after arrival. We check the current entry rules for your passport before booking.
- Your guide speaks English — included in the price. If you would like another language, tell us when you book.
- Comfortable walking shoes matter more than anything else you pack, and for the mountain day, boots or trail shoes with a good grip.
- Arriving on a Saturday? We add a night, or start the programme a day later and shorten the mountain day.
- Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure and are issued to your passport: we need the full name and passport number of every traveller, and we book as soon as your dates are fixed.
- Tell us about your food preferences when you book, and we take them into account when we plan the meals.
- Drink only bottled water; it is sold everywhere.
- Flight and train timetables can change: we check them for your dates before we confirm the programme.
- Read before you go: our guides to travelling to Uzbekistan from the UK, hiking in Uzbekistan, day trips around Samarkand, the Ulugh Beg Observatory and trains in Uzbekistan.
- 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
- Old towns at walking pace: Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva on foot with your guide, with stops for tea along the way.
- High-speed trains, no long drives: 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 → and the high-speed train to Khiva link the cities, and a short flight brings you back to Tashkent.
- Mountains and old trees: a guided hike with a picnic at Mountains of the Western Tian Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → and a morning under the plane trees of Chor-Chinor.
Minuses
- Plenty of walking: several hours a day on foot; our Gentle Pace tour suits travellers who prefer short walks.
- Four hotel changes: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Tashkent again, with one night in Khiva.
- Flight days set the dates: the tour runs from Wednesday to Friday to fit the Heathrow flights; other arrival days need small changes.
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
- 4
- Longest transfer
- 3.5 h · by train
- Walking
- Heavy
Best time
Apr–May, Sep–Oct
April–May and September–October: comfortable weather for long days on foot, open mountain trails, and the 2027 May and October half-terms fall inside these windows.
Better to avoid
Jul–Aug
July and August: afternoons of 35 °C and more in the cities, so we keep the walks to the mornings and evenings.
A typical day
On day 7 you walk Bukhara end to end with your guide: from the pond of Lyabi-Hauz past the trading domes to Poi Kalyan and the Kalyan minaret of 1127, on to the Ark and the wooden columns of Bolo-Hauz, and through the park to the Samanid Mausoleum, with tea and lunch wherever the walk pauses.
What the price includes
What is included
- Train tickets: the Afrosiyob Tashkent – Samarkand and Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva
- The flight Urgench – Tashkent
- Accommodation: 9 nights in hotels with breakfast
- A private car with driver for the airport and station transfers, the trips to Chimgan, Konigil and Urgut and the sights on the programme
- A local guide in English in every city on the programme, and a mountain guide for the hike
- The picnic on the mountain day
- Entrance tickets on the programme
- Bottled drinking water every day
Not included
- International flights
- Meals and drinks not on the programme
- Dinner with a local family in Bukhara (on request)
- The Islam Khoja minaret climb, if it is open
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- Tips and personal expenses
Extra cost on site
- The Islam Khoja minaret climb, if it is open
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- Tips and personal expenses
Good for
- Travellers from the UK with ten days around a bank holiday or half-term, flying nonstop from Heathrow
- Keen walkers who would rather explore an old town on foot than from a coach window
- Those who want one day on a mountain trail without signing up for a trekking holiday
Maybe not for you if
- Travellers who find several hours a day on foot tiring: our Classic Uzbekistan at a Gentle Pace keeps the walks short
- Hikers looking for a week in the mountains: our Hiking Uzbekistan tour spends more days on the trails
- Those who want one base for the whole trip: you change hotels four times
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 and the size of your group.
Do British citizens need a visa?
No, for tourism or business visits of up to 30 days (rules as of October 2026). The passport must be valid at least three months after arrival, and it should be stamped when you enter. Rules can change, so we check the current ones for your passport before booking; the details are in our article on <a href="/blog/uzbekistan-tours-from-uk/">Uzbekistan tours from the UK</a>.
How does the tour fit the London flights?
In the winter timetable 2026/27 Uzbekistan Airways flies nonstop from Heathrow on Tuesdays and Fridays, landing in Tashkent at 05:55. The tour starts on the Wednesday morning, with your room booked from the night before, and ends on a Friday, when the flight home leaves at 13:45. If you fly on a Saturday or from Gatwick on a Sunday, we move the days.
How much walking is there?
Several hours a day in the old towns, on flat streets with some stairs, at an easy pace with stops for tea. The mountain day is a hike of medium difficulty; tell us about your fitness, and if you would rather not hike, we replace it with the gondolas at Amirsoy.
Is the guide English-speaking?
Yes. Your guide speaks English, and that is included in the price. On the mountain day you also walk with a mountain guide.
Can we shorten or extend the tour?
Yes. Without Khiva the tour takes 8 days: from Bukhara the Afrosiyob takes you back to Tashkent. For more days on the trails, look at <a href="/tours/hiking-tour-chimgan-nuratau-samarkand/">Hiking Uzbekistan</a>, and for more trains, <a href="/tours/uzbekistan-by-train-tour/">Uzbekistan by Train</a>. Tell us your dates, and we fit the route to them.
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Arrival, departure, transfers
© Photos
The Afrosiyob train at Tashkent Central station — Nikolai Bulykin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
