Five Stans Silk Road Odyssey

Trip highlights

• Registan Square in Samarkand

  Three madrasas facing one square: Ulugh Beg's from the 1420s, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori from the seventeenth century. You see it on the afternoon you arrive and again over the following two days, in different light, which is the right way to see it.

• Historic old Bukhara and Khiva

  Khiva's Itchan Kala is a whole walled town of mud-brick madrasas and minarets, small enough to walk end to end in fifteen minutes. Bukhara is larger and still lived in: the Ark, the Kalon minaret of 1127, the trading domes and the pool at Lyabi-Hauz. Two nights in each.

• Darvaza gas crater, Turkmenistan

  A collapsed gas-exploration site in the Karakum, about 70 metres across, that has been burning since Soviet times. You see it after dark and sleep at a camp nearby. The Turkmen government has said it wants the fire put out and it has burned lower in recent years, so expect a smaller fire than older photographs show — we confirm its state before each departure.

• Charyn Canyon and Kolsai Lakes

  The Valley of Castles section of Charyn Canyon, a walk of about two kilometres down between red sandstone walls to the river, then the first Kolsai lake at about 1,800 metres in the spruce forest of the northern Tian Shan. The upper Kolsai lakes are a full day's hike further and are not part of this itinerary.

• Ala-Archa National Park

  A gorge in the Kyrgyz Ala-Too about forty kilometres south of Bishkek, with juniper on the slopes and glaciated peaks at its head. The day is an easy out-and-back walk on the valley floor at around 2,200 metres, the highest point of the trip.

At a glance

• 15 days, Ashgabat to BishkekFourteen nights: thirteen in hotels and guesthouses, one in a desert camp at Darvaza.
• Five countries: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, KyrgyzstanSeven days in Uzbekistan; Tajikistan is a day visit to Penjikent from Samarkand.
• Max altitude 2,200 m (Ala-Archa)Kolsai Lake is about 1,800 m. Altitude is not a factor on this trip.
• Best season April to June, September to NovemberTurkmen and Uzbek summers regularly pass 40 °C, and the desert days are the long ones.
• 4 to 14 travellersA local guide in each country, and a driver who stays with the group inside each border.
• Road, two fast trains and one flightBukhara to Samarkand and Samarkand to Tashkent by train; Tashkent to Almaty by air.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrive Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

   Met at Ashgabat airport after the visa formalities, which take time — the visa is issued on arrival against your letter of invitation and paid for in cash. Transfer to the hotel. If you land in daylight, a first drive past the white-marble centre of the city, which is unlike anywhere else in the region.

2. 2Day 2Nisa, then into the Karakum to the Darvaza gas crater

   

   Morning at Nisa, the Parthian fortress on the edge of the Kopet Dag about 18 km west of the city. Then north on the Dashoguz road across the Karakum, about 260 km and four hours, the last part off the asphalt. You reach the crater in time to see it at dusk and after dark, and sleep in a camp a few hundred metres away.

3. 3Day 3Darvaza to Dashoguz, across the border to Khiva, Uzbekistan

   The longest day of the trip: about 270 km north to Dashoguz on a road that is broken in places, five hours or more. Then the Dashoguz–Shavat border crossing on foot between the two countries' posts, where your Uzbek guide meets you, and an hour's drive to Khiva. You arrive in the late afternoon or early evening, which is the best time to first walk into the walled town.

4. 4Day 4Khiva — the Itchan Kala

   

   A full day inside the walls on foot: the unfinished Kalta Minor minaret in its glazed tiles, the Kuhna Ark, the Juma mosque with its forest of carved wooden columns, and the climb up the Islam Khoja minaret for the view over the rooftops. Afternoon free. Second night in Khiva.

5. 5Day 5Khiva to Bukhara across the Kyzylkum

   About 450 km and six to seven hours by road across the Kyzylkum desert, crossing the Amu Darya and following it for a stretch. It is a long day in the vehicle with roadside chaikhana stops, and the reason it is done by road rather than train is the timing of the connection to Darvaza two days earlier. Evening arrival in Bukhara.

6. 6Day 6Bukhara

   The old city on foot: the Ark fortress, the Kalon minaret and mosque, the Mir-i-Arab madrasa, the covered trading domes and the Lyabi-Hauz pool, then by vehicle to the tenth-century Samanid mausoleum and the four small towers of Chor Minor. Second night in Bukhara.

7. 7Day 7Fast train to Samarkand, and the Registan

   The Afrosiyob fast train to Samarkand takes about an hour and three-quarters. Check in, then the Registan in the late afternoon, when the light comes round onto the madrasa façades. First of three nights in Samarkand.

8. 8Day 8Samarkand

   

   Timur's Samarkand: the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum, the avenue of tiled tombs at Shah-i-Zinda, the Bibi-Khanym mosque and the Siab bazaar beside it, and the remains of Ulugh Beg's fifteenth-century observatory. A full day, mostly on foot.

9. 9Day 9Day across the border to Penjikent, Tajikistan

   About an hour's drive to the Jartepa border, then on to Sarazm, a settlement from the fourth millennium BC, and the ruins of ancient Panjakent, a Sogdian city abandoned after the Arab conquest. The Rudaki museum and the bazaar in modern Penjikent, then back across the border to Samarkand for the night. Border waits vary from half an hour to two, so this is a full day for a short distance.

10. 10Day 10Fast train to Tashkent, evening flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan

    The fast train to Tashkent takes a little over two hours. An afternoon in the city: the Khast Imam complex, where the library holds a seventh-century Quran, the Chorsu bazaar, and a couple of stations on the Tashkent metro. Evening flight to Almaty, about an hour and a half, and transfer to the hotel.

11. 11Day 11Charyn Canyon, then on to Saty village

    

    About 200 km and three hours east to Charyn Canyon, where you walk down through the Valley of Castles to the Charyn River and back, roughly two kilometres each way. Then two hours south to the village of Saty below the Kolsai lakes, and a night in a village guesthouse with dinner.

12. 12Day 12Kolsai Lake, 1,800 m, and back to Almaty

    Early to the first Kolsai lake, a short drive from Saty, for a walk along the shore and up into the spruce forest above it, two to three hours. Then the drive back to Almaty, around 300 km and five to six hours. A long afternoon in the vehicle, and the price of seeing the lakes at all on a trip of this length.

13. 13Day 13Almaty to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

    A morning in Almaty — Panfilov Park and the wooden Zenkov cathedral, and the Green Bazaar. Then about 240 km west to Bishkek, four to five hours including the Korday border crossing. First of two nights in Bishkek.

14. 14Day 14Ala-Archa National Park, 2,200 m

    An hour's drive south into Ala-Archa gorge, and an easy three to four hours walking out and back along the river on the valley floor, at around 2,200 metres, with the glaciated peaks of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too at its head. Back to Bishkek for the Osh bazaar in the afternoon and a farewell dinner.

15. 15Day 15Depart Bishkek

    Transfer to Manas airport, about forty minutes from the centre, for your onward flight.

Good to know

Visas: the Turkmenistan letter of invitation first, then the other four

Turkmenistan does not issue tourist visas without a letter of invitation, and it only issues those to visitors booked with a licensed Turkmen agency who will be accompanied by a guide. We apply for the letter on your behalf once you have booked; the State Migration Service usually takes three weeks or more to answer, sometimes refuses without giving a reason, and does not hurry. Once the letter is approved, the visa is issued on arrival at Ashgabat airport and paid for in cash, in clean US dollar notes, along with a small arrival fee.

So do not buy non-refundable international flights until the letter has been approved. If it is refused, we can rework the start of the trip from Tashkent or Khiva, but you lose Darvaza, Nisa and Ashgabat.

For the other four countries, rules change and depend on your passport, so check them for your own nationality when you book. As a guide: many nationalities, including most EU passports, the UK and the US, can currently enter Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan visa-free for a stay of this length. Tajikistan needs an e-visa even for the one-day visit to Penjikent, applied for online in advance. If you need a visa for Uzbekistan, it must allow two entries, because you leave for Penjikent and come back.

How much of each country you actually see

Seven days in Uzbekistan: Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and an afternoon in Tashkent. Two days in Turkmenistan: Nisa, Ashgabat and Darvaza. Three in Kazakhstan: Almaty, Charyn Canyon and the first Kolsai lake. Two in Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek and Ala-Archa. In Tajikistan, one day in the Penjikent area. If you want more of any one country — the Pamirs, Song-Kul, Merv — we would rather tell you now than have you find out on day nine. See the Pamir Highway trip for the mountains of Tajikistan.

Borders, trains and the one flight

There are five land crossings: Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan at Dashoguz–Shavat, Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and back at Jartepa, and Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan at Korday. You walk across with your luggage between the two posts, and waits run from half an hour to two hours. Crossings in this region occasionally close at short notice; when that happens we reroute, and any extra cost is shared as set out in the booking terms. The fast trains between Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent sell out in season and tickets are released about forty-five days ahead. The Tashkent–Almaty flight is a scheduled service and can be retimed by the airline.

Season and weather

April to early June and September to early November. In July and August the Karakum and Kyzylkum reach 40 to 45 °C and the long desert days on days two, three and five become genuinely hard. Spring brings green in the foothills and some rain; autumn is dry, settled and the harvest is in the bazaars. Nights at Darvaza and at Kolsai are cold in both seasons, so bring a warm layer even in May.

Hotels, and what Easy means here

Comfortable mid-range hotels in the cities, often small family-run places inside the old towns of Khiva and Bukhara; a simple village guesthouse at Saty with shared bathrooms; and a basic camp at Darvaza with tents or yurts, mattresses and a long-drop toilet. Easy means the walking is short and on the flat — old towns, a two-kilometre canyon path, a lakeshore and a valley floor. The effort is the hours in a vehicle and on your feet in heat, and the early starts on border and train days.

Money and connectivity

Five currencies. Bring US dollars in clean, recent notes as your reserve. Cards work in hotels and many restaurants in Almaty, Bishkek and Tashkent, less so in Khiva and Bukhara, and hardly at all in Turkmenistan, which is a cash country. Mobile data is easy to buy in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In Turkmenistan the internet is heavily filtered and slow, most messaging apps do not work and VPNs are blocked, so expect to be largely out of contact for the first three days.

Questions about this trip

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