Uzbekistan & the Fergana Valley

Morning arrival in Tashkent, breakfast at the hotel and a visit to Khast Imam Square with the 7th-century Othman Quran, then the blue-domed Chorsu bazaar. After check-in and rest: the Earthquake Memorial, Independence Square, the Romanov Palace, the Navoi Opera House and Amir Timur Square. Optional ride on the Tashkent metro.

Morning flight to Urgench and on to Khiva. Inside Ichan Kala (UNESCO): the Kunya Ark, Kalta Minor, the Juma Mosque with 213 wooden columns and the Islam Khodja minaret. In the afternoon Tash Khauli Palace, the Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum and the Alla Kuli Khan caravanserai. Dinner with a folk show.

Today we follow the ancient caravan road from Khiva to Bukhara — about six hours across the Kyzylkum, the “Red Sands” desert. The landscape opens into dunes, saxaul bushes and the wide valley of the Amu Darya, where caravans once carried silk, spices and silver between China and the Mediterranean. Lunch at a roadside chaikhana and arrival in Bukhara in the late afternoon, with free time around the illuminated Lyabi Hauz pool.

The Ismail Samani Mausoleum, Chashma Ayub, Bolo Hauz, the Ark citadel, Poi Kalon with the Kalon minaret, Lyabi Hauz and Chor Minor. In the domed bazaars five master workshops — knives, puppets, suzani embroidery, copper stamping and ikat weaving — and a walk through the old Jewish Quarter.

In the morning we visit the shrine of Bahauddin Naqshband, the 14th-century founder of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in Central Asia, and Sitorai Mokhi Khosa, the summer palace of the last emirs, where Eastern ornament meets Russian imperial taste. In the afternoon the road to Samarkand (about four hours) passes through Gijduvan, where the Nasrullayev family has made ceramics for six generations — you can watch the potter’s wheel and the famous ochre and green glazes.

A full day in the city of Timur. The Registan is one of the most magnificent squares in the world: the madrasahs of Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor with its lions and suns and the gilded Tilya-Kori. We continue to the vast Bibi-Khanym Mosque, once one of the largest in the Islamic world. After lunch the avenue of Shah-i-Zinda, a necropolis of mausoleums in dazzling blue majolica, and in the evening Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timur and his descendants under its ribbed azure dome.

The 15th-century Observatory of Ulugh Beg, the astronomer-king, keeps part of the huge meridian arc with which he catalogued over a thousand stars. We visit the Mausoleum of St Daniel, revered by three religions, the village of Konigil, where paper is still made from mulberry bark, and the colourful Siab bazaar with dried fruit, nuts and Samarkand bread. In the afternoon the high-speed Afrosiyob train takes us back to Tashkent.

A scenic express train over the Kamchik Pass to Kokand (08:05–12:43). After a quick lunch we visit the 19th-century Palace of Khudayar Khan, the Juma Mosque and the Modarikhan necropolis. In Rishtan, Central Asia’s oldest ceramic centre, the workshop of master Rustam Usmanov shows how turquoise ishkor pottery is made. Evening in Fergana.

In Margilan the Yodgorlik silk factory shows the whole hand-made process, from boiling cocoons to weaving the famous ikat patterns. Time at the Margilan bazaar and for a local lunch — try the Devzira rice plov. Evening express train back to Tashkent (16:48–21:37) and a late dinner.

About two hours’ drive to the Chatkal ridge of the Western Tian Shan and the Amirsoy mountain resort. A panoramic gondola takes us up to about 2,290 m for sweeping views of the ridges and valleys. On the way back a photo stop above the turquoise Charvak reservoir, then an early dinner in Tashkent.

After breakfast transfer to Tashkent airport for your flight home, after eleven days along the Silk Road and into the Fergana Valley. With a later flight there is time for a last walk around Amir Timur Square or the Chorsu bazaar to buy spices, ceramics or a piece of Margilan silk to take home.