Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan

Arrival in Almaty, meeting with the guide and a short tour of the city at the foot of the snowy Trans-Ili Alatau. In Panfilov Park stands the wooden Ascension Cathedral (1907), built without a single nail, and at the Green Bazaar dried fruit, nuts, horse-meat delicacies and Korean salads reflect the many peoples of Kazakhstan.

Then we drive 40 km into the foothills to the Huns ethno-village: yurts and the life of the nomads, a show of horse riders, a master class of traditional cooking, archery and a buffet lunch of Kazakh dishes. Return to Almaty and check-in.

After breakfast we drive east towards the Chinese border. Charyn Canyon, the Valley of Castles, is a corridor of red cliffs up to 300 m high carved by the Charyn river. We walk along the canyon floor between towers and walls of stone down to the river.

We continue to the village of Saty at the foot of the Kungey Alatau, the gateway to the Kolsai lakes. Dinner and overnight in a family guesthouse.

An early start for the mountain lakes. Kolsai Lake, the first of three, lies among dark spruce forests at 1,800 m. Off-road vehicles then take us to Kaindy Lake, where the trunks of a forest drowned by the 1911 earthquake still rise from the turquoise water.

In the afternoon we cross the Kegen – Karkara border into Kyrgyzstan, where our Kyrgyz guide and vehicle are waiting, and drive to Karakol at the eastern end of Issyk-Kul.

Morning in Karakol: the Dungan Mosque, built in 1910 by Chinese craftsmen without nails in the style of a Buddhist temple, and the wooden Russian Holy Trinity Cathedral (1895).

Then the red rocks of Jety-Oguz — the “Seven Bulls” and the “Broken Heart” — and the colourful clay formations of Skazka Canyon above the southern shore of Issyk-Kul. Dinner and a night in a yurt camp near Bokonbaevo on the lake shore, with the mountains reflected in the water.

After breakfast we drive along Issyk-Kul to the Chui valley. The Burana Tower, an 11th-century minaret, is all that remains of the town of Balasagun, once a capital of the Karakhanids; around it stand balbals, ancient Turkic stone figures.

Arrival in Bishkek, the leafy capital of Kyrgyzstan, and a free evening.

A city tour of Bishkek: Ala-Too Square with the monument to Manas, hero of the national epic, and the changing of the guard, then the Osh Bazaar, the city’s biggest market and the place to try kurut and samsa.

Transfer to the airport for the evening flight to Tashkent (about 1 hour). Overnight in Tashkent.

Sightseeing in Tashkent: the Hast-Imam complex with the Barak-Khan madrasah and the library keeping the 7th-century Uthman Quran, one of the oldest in the world; Chorsu Bazaar under its great blue dome; the Tashkent metro, whose stations are decorated like palaces; and Amir Timur Square, the heart of the modern city.

In the evening the Afrosiyob high-speed train takes us to Samarkand in about two hours.

A full day in Samarkand, the capital of Tamerlane. The Registan, framed by three madrasahs of the 15th–17th centuries, is the most famous square in Central Asia. Gur-Emir, Tamerlane’s mausoleum, shines under a ribbed blue dome, and the Bibi-Khanym Mosque was once one of the largest in the Islamic world.

At the Siab Bazaar we taste the famous Samarkand bread, dried fruit and sweets, and in the afternoon we walk the avenue of blue-tiled mausoleums of Shah-i-Zinda, the most beautiful ensemble of the city.

Morning in Samarkand: the 15th-century Ulugbek Observatory, built by the astronomer-ruler, grandson of Tamerlane, and the Konigil paper workshop, where silk paper is still made by hand as it was a thousand years ago.

The Afrosiyob train takes us to Bukhara in about 1.5 hours. In the evening a walk around Lyabi-Hauz, the old pool square surrounded by madrasahs and tea houses.

A full day in the old town of Bukhara, the holy city of Central Asia. The Ark was the citadel of the emirs; the 10th-century Samanid Mausoleum is a masterpiece of patterned brick; the Poi-Kalyan ensemble unites the 47-metre Kalyan minaret, the mosque and the Mir-i-Arab madrasah.

Under the old trading domes craftsmen sell carpets, ceramics, knives and suzani embroidery, and the small Chor-Minor madrasah with its four towers closes the day.

A free morning, or an optional visit to Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, the summer palace of the last emir of Bukhara, where European and Oriental styles meet.

The Afrosiyob train takes us back to Tashkent (about 4 hours). Farewell dinner with plov, the national dish of Uzbekistan.

Breakfast (or a packed breakfast for an early flight) and transfer to Tashkent airport. End of the tour.