The architecture & history of Uzbekistan

Tashkent - Airport - Hotel

Day 1: Arrival in Tashkent

Our team will welcome you at Tashkent International Airport for transfer and check-in at your hotel.

Tashkent

Day 2: Tashkent City Tour

After breakfast, your guide will meet you at your hotel to begin your sightseeing tour of Tashkent - the capital of Uzbekistan.

You’ll wander through ancient religious complexes and buzzing bazaars getting a real flavour of this beautiful Silk Road city. With a modern skyline and an ancient past, this is a fascinating city to get to know.

Begin by visiting the Hazrati Imom Complex, the spiritual heart of Tashkent dating back to the 16th Century. Then meander through Chorsu Bazaar soaking up the atmosphere. Continue through different grand squares and monuments learning about the city as you go. In the afternoon visit the Museum of Applied Arts to admire intricate mosaics and artefacts.

Tashkent - Bukhara

Day 3: Journey to Bukhara

After breakfast, your driver will take you to the train station for your journey to Bukhara.

Arriving around lunchtime, you’ll begin your tour of this cultural powerhouse of a city in the afternoon. Visit the 10th Century Samanid Mausoleum along with the Chashmai Ayyub Mausoleum. See the splendid Boloi Hauz Mosque built in 1712, as well as the Ark Fortress - a citadel of Kings and Khans. You’ll continue to discover many more fine buildings of religious and educational significance throughout the city, all adorned with a breathtaking array of mosaics, archways and minarets.

Bukhara - Samarkand

Day 4: Bukhara & train to Samarkand

Bukhara is Uzbekistan’s holiest city, with buildings spanning a thousand years of history. With so much to see and take in, today you’ll continue to explore its many incredible sights.

Places to visit:

- Labi Hauz: a complex (pictured) where locals like to visit often

- Chor Minor has a unique look with its four minarets

- Kukaldash madrasah

- Magoki Atoori mosque, the oldest in Bukhara 

- Tim Abdulla Khan Trading Dome

In the afternoon it’s time to board the train for your onward journey to Samarkand.

Samarkand

Day 5: Samarkand city tour

This morning you’ll start exploring the incredible Silk Road city of Samarkand.

Known for being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia it is a magical place of minarets, mosques and mausoleums.

You’ll see many ornate buildings along with the towering tomb of Timur - founder of the Timurid Empire. The Siab Bazaar is one of the oldest in the country still operating today, so as you wander through the hustle and bustle you might also imagine that you are stepping back in time.

Morning places to visit:

- Guri Amir Mausoleum of the Timurids Dynasty

- Registan square (which has three madreasas all built in different times

After lunch:

- Bibi Khanum (Mosque dating to 1399 built by Amir Temur)

- Siab Bazaar

- Shahi Zinda Complex

Samarkand - Tashkent

Day 6: Final morning in Samarkand

After breakfast, visit the ruins of the Ulugbek Observatory, once a centre of astronomical study in central Asia and built in the 1420s. Later tour the Mausoleum of Hodja Daniyar and the venerable Afrasiab Museum. In the afternoon head to Konigil, an ancient paper-making factory dating all the way back to the 8th century. In the late afternoon board the train for your journey back to Tashkent.

Tashkent

Day 7: Farewell Uzbekistan

You'll be picked up at your hotel in good time for your airport transfer and onward flight.