The Silk Road in 14 days: four cities, the Fergana valley and a yurt
Two weeks is where Uzbekistan stops being four monuments and starts being a country. The extra four days over the classic route buy three things: the Fergana valley in the east, where the craft is still made; Shakhrisabz over the pass from Samarkand, which is where Timur came from; and a night in a
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 7
- Best months
- Apr, May, Sep, Oct
- From
- $2,590 per person
It runs west to east and then west again, which sounds inefficient and is not, because the Fergana valley is a cul-de-sac and has to be done as an out-and-back from Tashkent.
Who it suits: travellers with two weeks and an interest in how things were made and traded, not only in what was built. One night of simple camp accommodation.
Your specialist: a named Central Asia specialist here, with our Tashkent partner running the ground.
Day by day
Days 1 and 2: Tashkent. Arrival and nothing. Then a full day: the metro stations, the Khast Imam complex and the Uthman Quran, Chorsu bazaar, and the applied arts museum, which is the primer for the craft you will meet later in the trip.
Days 3 to 5: The Fergana valley. East over the Kamchik pass, about five hours by road, or the train through the tunnel where the schedule fits.
Day three: Kokand and the Khudayar Khan palace, then on to Margilan.
Day four: Margilan silk. The Yodgorlik factory, where the cocoons are boiled, the thread reeled and the ikat warp bound and dyed by hand before weaving. Then a family atelier, and the Kumtepa bazaar if it is a market day.
Day five: Rishtan ceramics in the morning, the blue and turquoise ishkor glaze and two workshops, one master and one family operation. Afternoon back over the pass to Tashkent.
Days 6 to 8: Samarkand. The Afrosiyob, a little over two hours.
Day six: Gur-e-Amir on arrival, and the Registan lit in the evening.
Day seven: Shah-i-Zinda at eight, the Registan interiors with a historian, Bibi-Khanym, and Siab bazaar. Afternoon off.
Day eight: Shakhrisabz, over the Takhtakaracha pass, about two hours each way. Timur’s birthplace, the Ak-Saray palace portal, which is a fragment of something that must have been vast, and the Kok Gumbaz mosque. It is a half day of driving for a half day of ruin, and it is worth it if the history has caught you and not if it has not. Alternative: Ulugh Beg’s observatory, the Konigil paper mill and a long lunch.
Days 9 and 10: Nurata and the Kyzylkum. North-west, about three hours. A village guesthouse in the Nuratau hills with a walk to the petroglyphs, then a night at a yurt camp by Lake Aydarkul, with camels at a walk, a fire and a dombra player. Day ten ends with the four-hour drive into Bukhara.
Days 11 and 12: Bukhara. Two full days in the best walking city in the country.
Day eleven: Poi Kalyan and the minaret of 1127, the Ark fortress, Bolo Hauz, the Samanid mausoleum, which is tenth-century unrestored brick, and the trading domes.
Day twelve: Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, a suzani workshop or dealer, the Chor Bakr necropolis, and a long afternoon in a chaikhana.
Day 13: The desert crossing to Khiva. About six hours west across the Kyzylkum, following the Amu Darya. Arrive late afternoon for Ichan Kala at dusk, staying inside the walls.
Day 14: Khiva, and out. A guided morning: the Juma mosque with its carved columns, the Tosh Hovli palace, the Kalta Minor and the Islam Khoja climb. Transfer to Urgench and the flight to Tashkent for your connection, or a last night in Tashkent.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast throughout, plus full board at the Nuratau guesthouse and the yurt camp, all Afrosiyob train seats booked the day the window opens, the Urgench to Tashkent flight, private cars with English-speaking drivers on every road leg including the Kamchik pass and the desert crossing, licensed guides on nine days, all workshop visits arranged with the makers, all museum and site entries, a written note on what is original and what was restored at every site, the camel ride, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Tashkent partner team throughout.
What we would change, and when
- Not interested in craft? Cut Fergana, which saves three days, and put them into the Aral: Nukus, the Savitsky Museum and Muynak. A completely different fortnight and an equally good one.
- Want it slower? Cut Shakhrisabz and add a third night in Bukhara. We suggest this more often than not.
- Sixteen days? Add Nukus and Muynak after Khiva, flying out from Nukus. That is the most complete version of Uzbekistan we build short of three weeks.
- Travelling in summer? Fergana and the Nuratau are marginally cooler than Bukhara and Khiva, and nowhere is comfortable. We restructure to early mornings and late afternoons and tell you what you are losing.
Honest notes
Seven hotel changes in fourteen days is more movement than we usually build. It is what covering Fergana, Nuratau and the four cities costs. If that sounds like a lot, it is, and the fix is to drop Fergana or drop Khiva rather than to shorten the nights everywhere.
The Fergana valley is an out-and-back. There is no route that continues west from Fergana to Samarkand without returning through Tashkent, unless you are crossing into Kyrgyzstan, which is what our 21-day route does.
Shakhrisabz is complicated. The old town around the Ak-Saray was cleared and rebuilt in 2015, and UNESCO placed the site on its List of World Heritage in Danger in 2016. What survives is a portal fragment in a new park. We will still take you if the history matters to you, and we will explain what happened.
Train seats are the constraint. Afrosiyob services sell out in the shoulder seasons and tickets are released a set number of weeks ahead. We book them the day the window opens, before hotels.
The heat. Over 100°F (38°C) in Bukhara and Khiva from June to August, with no shade at the sites. April, May, September and October are the windows.
The yurt camp is simple: felt tents, shared washing block, outdoor kitchen, electricity for part of the evening. It is clean and it is not a hotel.
Built by your named Central Asia specialist, checked by our Tashkent partner team before it goes out.
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