Samarkand

A lot to see on this whirlwind tour,stunning scenery in Kyrgyzstan, busy Almaty in Kazakhstan and a lot of mosques,minarets and mausoleums.
The included lunches and dinners were very good apart from the dinner and breakfast at the yurt which was very basic and tasteless,room for improvement.
The eagle hunting demonstration is excellent something I won’t forget. The yurt stay was basic but acceptable,a bit chilly at night in June,the next morning there’s a 6km walk down to the red rocks,a very easy walk and very beautiful.
The border crossing on foot into Kazakhstan was straightforward as it’s so quiet unlike the border crossing into Uzbekistan which was pretty chaotic.
The Charyn Canyon was amazing,easy walk down to the picnic spot,you can either walk back or buy a ticket for a ride back up in a soviet truck.
Both sleeper trains were 4 berth quite tight on space for luggage,first sleeper does have food and drink available.
Uzbekistan was stunning but overwhelming with the amount of mosques,minarets and mausoleum’s visited in 4 regions,personally I wouldn’t have been bothered if Khiva had been missed off the itinerary a bit of a tourist trap.

Susan Watson The Silk Road

This trip exceeded my expectations in many ways! There is so much to see and enjoy on this tour. It is a tale of two halves: the first half, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, focus more on the stunning scenery and nature. The beauty of Kyrgyzstan was a revelation to me. And the Eagle-hunting workshop was an absolute highlight for everyone in the group. I did also enjoy the ‘brutalist beauty’ of Bishkek (expect your first day to be a long day, as you land in the morning and do a city tour in the afternoon – I basically skipped a night’s sleep, but it was worth it!). A personal highlight for me was the walk from the yurt camp (most of the group cited the overnight stay in a yurt as their highlight) to the red rocks – absolutely stunning. The Grand Canyon in Kazakhstan was also a great experience. The second half of the trip, Uzbekistan, is more cultural: you will see many impressive mausoleums, madrasas and mosques. Samarkand especially blew me away! Khiva is also very beautiful but seems a bit more geared towards tourists – it was definitely more expensive than other parts of Uzbekistan, although still cheap. In Tashkent we also visited a market and some metro stations, which was a little different and a very interesting interlude. There is just so much to see and do. Some might find the many mausoleums a bit repetitive towards the end, but I found they all had something different to offer and it truly is a unique opportunity to visit these beautiful places before it gets to overcrowded with tourists (especially Uzbekistan is geared towards receiving more tourists and is getting more coverage in the international press as an up and coming tourist destination!).

Yves Hoekman The Silk Road

This trip was the perfect mix of big-name Silk Road cities and places I’d never heard of but will never forget. It was amazing to explore the spots you read about in history books, but I also really loved getting off the main tourist trail. Walking through what used to be the Aral Sea was eye-opening. It’s one of those moments that makes you pause and reflect. Uzbekistan is bigger than you expect, so there are definitely some long travel days, but they’re totally worth it if you go in with a good attitude.

Cass Harrison Uzbekistan Uncovered