Tajikistan & Uzbekistan Adventure

Start in Osh

Day 1 in Osh

Starting in air hub Bishkek, make your way down to Osh; either with a short, spectacular flight, or by car (a 12-hour drive). From Osh, jump into the car for the Pamir Highway. Tour operators generally budget between six and ten days for this mother of all road trips.

From Osh, the road starts to rise immediately, to climax at the Kyzyl-Art pass at a breath-taking 4,280m (14,000 ft). Get an early night’s sleep at Karakul Lake, which was formed by a meteor impact 25 million years ago. It is now a peaceful bird sanctuary, except for the summer weekend when kite-surfers descend to test their gear and skills in the highest (and coldest) sailing regatta in the world.

Follow The Pamir Highway

Day 2–5 in Pamir Mountains

Over the next days, you glide from amongst the Kyrgyz semi-nomads tending their flocks, into the life of the pastoral farmers of the valleys, still using oxen to thresh their wheat.

Accompanying you for the ride is a incredible scenery of the Pamir mountains.

The Wakhan Valley is the cultural highlight of the trip. It marks the border with Afghanistan, where you can wave and shout to the locals on the other side, still living 50 years further in the past. The Wakhan also holds most of the historical treasures. Persian-style boundless hospitality and invitations for tea are freely dispersed along the way.

Relax at Khorog

Day 6 in Khorog

On finally reaching Khorog, check into a stylish lodge to unwind from the bumpy ride. Here, car-sick passengers can take a flight to Dushanbe, while the rest will continue over land, with a stop at the hot springs of Bibi Fatimah.

Explore Dushanbe

Day 7–8 in Dushanbe

Dushanbe is an NGO capital, and a number of excellent hotels have cropped up to support the consultant industry. Highlights include the National Museum of Tajikistan, Rudaki Park and the Haji Yaqub Mosque.

Travel to Uzbekistan

Day 9–11 in Khujand

From Dushanbe there are several connections to Uzbekistan. The easiest and most convenient option connects directly to Samarkand via ancient Penjikent, former capital of the Samanid dynasty. At the time of writing, this border is sadly still closed.

The most popular alternative goes up to Khujand, a more prosperous town that feels decidedly un-Tajik, where the pace and determined stride of locals presages Uzbekistan.

On the way, Iskanderkul is a lake whose beauty calls for hyperbole unfit for a travel guide. The Fann mountains that lay in waiting behind hold more such pearls, but visiting usually falls outside of the itineraries of tour operators--visiting the Pamirs makes for an already long trip.

Khujand is an interesting destination in its own right, with a marvellous bazaar and the Palace of Arbob as its main attractions.

Explore Tashkent

Day 12 in Tashkent

Most tours will take a full day to explore the city: on one hand, the Brutalist architecture, on the other hand, the remaining Islamic monuments. The Tashkent mosque holds one of the world’s oldest Korans, brought home as a souvenir by Emperor Timur when he came back from conquering Iraq.

Explore Samarkand

Day 13–14 in Samarkand

A rebuilt 14th-century city, Samarkand in Uzbekistan is a striking place to visit with mosques covered in ceramic tiles and sand coloured buildings.

One of the major stops along the Silk Road, Samarkand is divided into the old city and the new city with the majority of historical monuments located in the old city.

The Registan is just one of the highlights, a large, open square (the name means “sandy place”) where people gathered, heard royal proclamations and watched executions. The buildings are covered in ceramic tiles and date back to the 15th century, restored in the 20th, they are among the finest examples of Islamic architecture anywhere.

Other sights include the Bibi Khanum Mausoleum, Ulughbek Observatory and a number of mosques and madrasas including the Ulughbek and the Shirdar Madrasas. The Shah-i Zinde is one of the key sights in Samarkand, which is a complex made up of mausoleums and mosques that houses the most important Muslim shrines that gives the complex its name, ‘the tomb of the living king’ - thought to be the grave of Qusam ibn-Abbas.

Paper-making is a craft that gets little attention among the splendour of Uzbekistan’s other artistic endeavors, but Samarkand’s paper museum is trying to change that. The museum traces down the history of paper from China to the Middle East and Europe, and shows the process as it is still being used today.

Drinkers, on the other hand, will enjoy a visit to the Hovrenko wine factory to hear the story of viticulture in a Muslim country.

History and shopping in Bukhara

Day 15–17 in Bukhara

Bukhara is over 2,000 years old, built on the site of a former Buddhist monastery, it has hundreds of minarets, mosques and madrassas with key sites being the Kalyan minaret, that's tower is a prominent landmark of the city, the Ismail Samani mausoleum and Bolo Haouz Mosque, one of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city.

It is a great place to stock up on souvenirs, from hand-painted ceramics to silk scarfs for the relatives. But remember, Uzbeks are a trader nation: if you haven’t bargained, you have been fooled!

Bukhara has the best sleeping options in all of Central Asia: top-notch service combined with historic authenticity at boutique hotels like Komil or Amulet represent Uzbekistan at its finest. Al fresco dining under centuries-old plane trees in one of the restaurants surrounding the Lyabi Haus quarter is a must.

The city is connected to Samarkand and Tashkent by high-speed rail making it easy to reach for tourists.

Museums in Khiva

Day 18–20 in Khiva

The walled city of Khiva is made up of mud-brick buildings and has over 50 historic monuments meaning you will need a few days to explore the city. Its remoteness makes this desert khanate little-visited by the majority of tourists. Khiva is a picture postcard place, unique in the Islamic world for its intact historic center.

The unfinished Kalta Minor Minaret is a squat blue tower in the centre of the town, decorated with blue ceramic tiles, a staple of the city, and connected to the Mohammed Amin Khan Madrasa. Other sites include the Juma Mosque featuring ornately carved wooden pillars, the Pakhlavan Makhmud Mausoleum with its tiled dome and the Islam Khodja Complex.

Those with more appetite for the unusual can take a side trip to the remains of the Aral Sea. Rusty boats lie stranded in the desert with no shore in sight. The man-made catastrophe of the vanished Aral Sea is a reminder of the ongoing destruction of human habitat for economic gain.

Fly from Urgench

Day 21 in Tashkent

From Urgench near Khiva, a flight back to Tashkent brings your journey to an end.