Programme and details
Tashkent · Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · 9 Days / 8 Nights · Private Tour
Turkic Heritage of the Silk Road
Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara – Khiva – Tashkent
Alisher Navoi finished his Khamsa, five long poems, in 1485, and in Tashkent a metro station, a theatre and a museum of literature carry his name. Ulugh Beg built a 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. on 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 → where astronomy was taught, and half a century after his death Babur described his observatory in memoirs written in Chagatai. In nine days we follow the history of culture through four A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. cities: Navoi’s Tashkent, the Samarkand of Ulugh Beg and Babur, the madrasahs and shrines of Bukhara, and Khiva, where a khan wrote poetry under the name Feruz. On the way, the shrines of Imam al-Bukhari, Bahauddin Naqshband and Pahlavan Mahmud.
| Duration | 9 days / 8 nights |
| Price | on request |
| Format | Private, or a small group on your dates |
| Where | Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva |
| Getting around | 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 → high-speed trains Tashkent – Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva, a flight Urgench – Tashkent; a car with driver for the stations and the shrines out of town |
| Guide | Your guide speaks Turkish, and that is included in the price; tell us when you book |
| Best time | April–May and September–October |
Ideal for travellers who know Navoi, Ulugh Beg and Babur from books and want to see their places, for lovers of Silk Road history and literature, and for guests from Türkiye who want the monuments and the shrines in one trip.
Ulugh Beg’s observatory — the marble arc of the sextant where his astronomers listed 1,018 stars in a catalogue finished in 1437.
The Imam al-Bukhari complex — 25 km from Samarkand, reopened in March 2026 after rebuilding.
Itinerary
Day by Day
Day 1 · Tashkent — Arrival and Alisher Navoi station
Your driver meets you at Tashkent airport and takes you to your hotel.
In the late afternoon your guide takes you into the metro. It opened in 1977, the first in Central Asia, and every station has its own theme. At Alisher Navoi station the ceramic panels show scenes from Navoi’s Khamsa, the five poems he wrote in 1483–1485, among them Farhad and Shirin and Layli and Majnun. Tomorrow you meet the poet again, in the museum of literature.
Good to know: We plan the first day around your flight. If you land late, the metro ride moves to day 2.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 2 · Tashkent — The Museum of Literature and Hazrati Imam
In the morning, the State Museum of Literature named after Alisher Navoi. It grew out of an exhibition for the poet’s 500th anniversary in 1939, became a museum in 1947, and keeps manuscripts of Navoi’s works and of Babur’s. Your guide tells Navoi’s story: born in Herat in 1441, a student in Samarkand in the 1460s, a poet who wrote mostly in Chagatai Turkic, and in Persian under the pen name Fani.
Then a walk past the ,Did you know? An opera house with a foyer for every region The Alisher Navoi Theatre, opened in 1947, has six halls carved in the styles of Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva and Termez, each led by a master of that school. Read more → opened in 1947: its six foyers are carved in the styles of six regions of the country, and an evening opera or ballet is the way to see them.
In the afternoon, Hazrati Imam: mosques and 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 → madrasa around the tomb of Abu Bakr ,Did you know? Tashkent's patron saint was nicknamed “the locksmith” Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi, born in Shash, old Tashkent, in 903–904 and died in 976, was a jurist and poet and the son of a locksmith: “kaffal” means locksmith. His mausoleum at Hazrati Imam dates from 1541–1542. Read more → the 10th-century scholar Tashkent honours as its patron. Across the square stands the Center of Islamic Civilization, opened in March 2026; under its dome lies the ,Did you know? Legend: Caliph Uthman's own Quran is kept in Tashkent Tradition holds that this huge parchment Quran is the personal copy of Caliph Uthman, and one story says Timur brought it to Samarkand. Radiocarbon dating gives 775–995, so it is more likely an early copy, yet still one of the oldest. Read more → a 7th-century Qur’an.
Good to know: Hazrati Imam is a working religious site: cover shoulders and knees, and women bring a scarf. We check the museum’s opening days for your dates.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 3 · Tashkent – Samarkand — The Registan and Gur-e-Amir
In the morning the Afrosiyob high-speed train takes you to Samarkand in 2 h 15 min to 2 h 30 min. The station is more than 6 km from the centre, and your car is waiting.
In the afternoon, the Registan: three madrasahs facing one square, Ulugh Beg (1417–1420), Sher-Dor (1619–1636) and Did you know? The 'gilded' mosque of the Registan Tilla-Kari, built in 1646–1660, means 'gilded'. With Bibi-Khanym in ruins, it served as Samarkand's main Friday mosque until the 1920s. Its prayer hall glows with kundal, relief painting finished in gold leaf, restored in 1979. Read more → (1646–1660). In Ulugh Beg’s madrasah astronomy was the most important subject, and the ruler lectured there in person. At the end of the day, ,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. where Ulugh Beg lies a few steps from his grandfather.
Good to know: Afrosiyob seats sell out, so we book the tickets as soon as your dates are fixed; we need the passport details of every traveller.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 4 · Samarkand — Ulugh Beg’s observatory and Babur’s Samarkand
The morning belongs to the observatory on the Kuhak hill, built in the 1420s. Start in the small museum, then walk down into the trench cut into the rock, 2 m wide and 11 m deep. Its two marble-faced rails are the lower part of a sextant with a radius of about 40 m. Here Ulugh Beg’s astronomers listed 1,018 stars in the ,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 → finished in 1437. The building was taken apart and forgotten; Vasily Vyatkin found the arc in 1908.
Half a century after Ulugh Beg’s death, Babur, born in Andijan in 1483, took Samarkand as a young man. In his memoirs, the ,Did you know? The Baburnama opens in the Fergana Valley with a boy of twelve Babur wrote his memoirs in his native Chagatai Turkic. The book opens: “In the month of Ramadan of the year 899 [1494], in the twelfth year of my age, I became ruler in the country of Farghana.” A Persian translation followed in 1589–90. Read more → written in Chagatai, he describes the observatory as a building three storeys high. Your guide shows you where it stood.
In the afternoon, ,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 → a street of more than twenty mausoleums from the 11th–15th and 19th centuries around the shrine of Qusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet. Then Timur’s Friday mosque of ,Did you know? Legend says the architect asked the queen for a kiss Legend says the architect of Bibi-Khanym would finish on time only for a kiss from Timur's wife, and Timur punished him. In fact the mosque was Timur's own project; his wife Saray Mulk Khanum built her madrasah across the road. Read more → built in 1399–1405, and the Samarkand's main bazaar, right next to Bibi-Khanym: Samarkand bread, dried fruit, nuts and halva. Read more → next door.
Good to know: Shah-i-Zinda is a revered place: cover shoulders and knees, and women bring a scarf. More in our article on the Ulugh Beg Observatory.
Overnight in Samarkand
Day 5 · Samarkand – Bukhara — The Imam al-Bukhari complex and the train west
In the morning we drive to Khartang, 25 km from Samarkand, to the Imam al-Bukhari complex. Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari was born in Bukhara in 810, spent about sixteen years compiling his Sahih, and died here in 870. The rebuilt complex reopened in March 2026: a mosque for 10,000 worshippers, four minarets 75 metres high and a museum of nine pavilions. Allow three to four hours.
In the afternoon, the Afrosiyob to Bukhara, under 2 hours. Bukhara’s station is in Kagan, about 12 km from the old city; your driver meets you there.
Good to know: On Friday the midday prayer fills the courtyards; if day 5 falls on a Friday, we plan the visit around it. Cover shoulders and knees, women cover their hair.
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 6 · Bukhara — Ulugh Beg’s first madrasah and Bahauddin Naqshband
In the morning, the old town on foot. 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 → of 1417 is the oldest preserved in Central Asia; its carved door says that education is obligatory for every Muslim man and woman. Then ,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 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 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, 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 → and the 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 → pool.
In the afternoon we drive to Qasri Orifon, about 10 km north-east of Bukhara, to the complex of Bahauddin Naqshband (1318–1389), who gave his name to the Naqshbandi order. The complex grew around his grave over the centuries: the khanqah of 1544–1545, two mosques, a small madrasa and the burial ground of Bukhara’s rulers. Since 2023 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage property.
Good to know: Want all seven pirs around Bukhara? Add our two-day Seven Saints of Bukhara tour.
Overnight in Bukhara
Day 7 · Bukhara – Khiva — The high-speed train and the khan-poet
In the late morning, the Jaloliddin Manguberdi high-speed train stops in Bukhara on its way from Tashkent to Khiva and reaches Khiva at about half past two, some 3 h 30 min later. Khiva station is the end of the line, a half-hour walk from 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 → your guide walks in with you, and the driver takes the luggage to the hotel.
In the afternoon, the ,The old fortress-residence of the khans of Khiva, inside the walls of Itchan Kala. the old citadel of the khans, and facing it the madrasah of Muhammad Rahim Khan II, built in 1871–1876. He ruled Khiva from 1864 to 1910, wrote poetry under the pen name Feruz and brought printing to Khiva in 1874; under him more than a hundred books were translated, mostly from Persian into Chagatai.
Good to know: This train does not leave Tashkent on Sundays, so this day of the tour never falls on a Sunday.
Overnight in Khiva
Day 8 · Khiva – Tashkent — Pahlavan Mahmud and the evening flight
In the morning, the mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud, a wrestler, healer and poet who died in 1322. By his own wish he was buried in his workshop, and a shrine grew around the grave; the building you see was raised in 1810–1825, and inside, the tiles carry Persian verses attributed to him.
Then 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 carved wooden columns, and 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 → of 1908–1910, at 56.6 metres the tallest in Khiva.
In the late afternoon, the transfer to Urgench airport, about 30 km away, and the flight to Tashkent, about 1 h 20 min to 1 h 30 min. Your driver meets you in Tashkent.
Good to know: Pahlavan Mahmud is a place of pilgrimage: cover shoulders and knees, women bring a scarf, and keep your voice down.
Overnight in Tashkent
Day 9 · Departure — Home or onward
A free morning, then the transfer to the airport for your flight home. If your flight leaves in the evening, ask us about a few hours in the old city of Tashkent; our guide to Tashkent in 1 or 2 days has ideas.
Before the trip, read our article on Uzbekistan tours from Turkey: flights, 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 →-free entry, the season and money.
Accommodation
Where you stay
| City | Stay |
|---|---|
| Tashkent | A comfortable hotel, 2 nights + 1 night |
| Samarkand | A comfortable hotel, 2 nights |
| Bukhara | A comfortable hotel, 2 nights |
| Khiva | A comfortable hotel, 1 night |
We confirm the hotels 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
- The best months are April–May and September–October. From June to August afternoons in Bukhara reach about 37 °C; in summer we start early and keep the middle of the day for lunch and shade.
- Your guide speaks Turkish, and that is included in the price. Tell us the language you need when you book, ideally well in advance.
- Citizens of Türkiye can stay in Uzbekistan for up to 30 days without a visa (rules as of October 2026). We check the current entry rules for your passport before booking.
- Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı are public holidays in Uzbekistan too, and trains and hotels fill up: for these dates we book early.
- At the shrines, cover shoulders and knees; women bring a scarf, and shoes come off on the carpets.
- Train tickets go on sale 60 days before departure and sell out; tickets need the full name and passport number of every traveller.
- Read before you go: our article on Uzbekistan tours from Turkey and our guide to ziyarat 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
- Navoi, 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 → and :Did you know? The founder of the Mughal Empire was born in Andijan Babur was born in Andijan on 14 February 1483 and, at twelve, took the throne of Fergana in its capital Akhsikath. Later he founded the Mughal Empire in India; his memoir, the Baburnama, still describes the valley's towns. Read more → the 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 and the museum of literature in Tashkent, Ulugh Beg’s madrasahs and observatory, and Babur’s memoirs in Samarkand.
- The shrines as heritage: ,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 → Imam al-Bukhari, Did you know? A village renamed in honour of a Sufi master Bahauddin Naqshband (1318–1389), who gave his name to one of the largest Sufi orders, was born and buried near Bukhara in Qasr-i Hinduvan. The village was later renamed Qasr-i Arifan in his honour; the tomb over his grave dates from 1544. Read more → and ,Did you know? Legend: a wrestler freed captives with a single cowhide Legend says Pahlavan Mahmud won a bout in India and asked to free as many fellow Khorezmians as would fit in a cowhide. He cut it into one long thin strip and encircled them all. The real Mahmud, a poet and wrestler of around 1300, is Khiva's patron saint. Read more → with time for prayer if you wish.
- Fast trains, one flight: high-speed trains from Tashkent to Khiva and a short flight back from Urgench.
Minuses
- Four hotel changes: four cities in nine days, with one night in Khiva.
- Hot in summer: from June to August afternoons in Bukhara and Khiva reach about 37 °C.
- Meals mostly extra: only breakfasts are included; lunches, dinners and drinks are paid on site.
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
- Walking
- Medium
Walking: Medium: walks through the old towns of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva and around the shrine complexes, without long hikes.
Best time
Apr–May, Sep–Oct
April–May and September–October: comfortable days for walking the old towns of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.
Better to avoid
Jun–Aug
June to August: afternoons in Bukhara and Khiva reach about 37 °C.
A typical day
On day 4 you start at Ulugh Beg’s observatory, walk down to the marble arc of the sextant where 1,018 stars were measured, and hear how Babur described the building in his memoirs. In the afternoon, the street of mausoleums at Shah-i-Zinda, the Bibi-Khanym mosque and the Siab bazaar.
What the price includes
What is included
- Meeting at Tashkent airport and all transfers on the programme
- Accommodation: 8 nights with breakfast (Tashkent 3, Samarkand 2, Bukhara 2, Khiva 1)
- Train tickets: the Afrosiyob Tashkent – Samarkand and Samarkand – Bukhara, the high-speed train Bukhara – Khiva
- The flight Urgench – Tashkent
- A private car with driver for the stations, the airports and the drives to Imam al-Bukhari and Bahauddin Naqshband
- A local guide in every city on the programme, speaking your language
- Entrance tickets on the programme and a metro ride on day 1
Not included
- International flights to and from Tashkent
- Lunches, dinners and drinks
- Opera or ballet tickets at the Alisher Navoi Theatre (on request)
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- Tips and personal expenses
Extra cost on site
- Lunches, dinners and drinks
- Opera or ballet tickets at the Alisher Navoi Theatre (on request)
- Photo and video fees at the sites
- Tips and personal expenses
Good for
- Travellers who know Navoi, Ulugh Beg and Babur from books and want to see their places
- Lovers of Silk Road history, literature and architecture
- Guests from Türkiye who want the monuments and the shrines in one trip
Maybe not for you if
- Travellers who want mountains and nature: this is a city and heritage route
- Anyone who wants all seven pirs of Bukhara: add our two-day Seven Saints of Bukhara tour
- Summer trips: from June to August afternoons in Bukhara reach about 37 °C
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 citizens of Türkiye need a visa?
No: citizens of Türkiye can stay in Uzbekistan for up to 30 days without a visa. That is the rule as of October 2026; we check it for every booking, and details are in our article on Uzbekistan tours from Turkey.
Is there a guide who speaks Turkish?
Yes: your guide speaks Turkish, and that is included in the price. Tell us when you book, ideally well in advance.
Is there time for prayer, and is the food halal?
Yes. We plan the days around Friday prayer if you wish, and the shrines on the route are working places of prayer. Halal is the norm in ordinary restaurants in Uzbekistan; tell us about your food preferences, and we take them into account.
When is the best time to go?
April–May or September–October. Ramazan Bayramı with the school break in March and Kurban Bayramı in May 2027 fit well; these are public holidays in Uzbekistan too, so we book trains and hotels early.
Can we add the seven pirs of Bukhara?
Yes. The programme includes the Bahauddin Naqshband complex; for all seven shrines around Bukhara, add our two-day Seven Saints of Bukhara tour.
Didn’t find your answer? Ask about this tour →
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Arrival, departure, transfers
© Photos
Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum, Khiva — Panpanchik / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
