In case you are going to Central Asia surely you will have a wish to cover all at once! This program allows you to realize it.
It is ideally suitable for adventure-lovers and also for everyone who wishes to see beauty of Asian desert, power of high mountains and it is equally suitable just for curious travelers! This trip you will have amazing adventures in mountains meeting with history of Uzbekistan, camel-riding, fishing and meeting with disappearing Aral Sea!
This exciting composite tour is for those who never mind admiring beauties of nature, engaging in recreational activities and learning interesting historical facts and intriguing mysteries. The tour will allow you to enjoy all these in Uzbekistan, which boasts diverse and attractive landscapes, and rich historical and cultural heritage. You will see the world-famous architectural monuments in Samarkand and Bukhara, and visit the most appealing parts of the countryside – the endless Kyzylkum Desert, the mountains of Chimgan, Lake Aydarkul and the Aral Sea… These are just a small part of what you can enjoy during the tour.
Welcome to Central Asia!

Adventure combined tour in Uzbekistan - 15 days.

Program of the tour:

detailed tour description >>

Included in the tour price are:

Not included in the tour price are:

Useful information for the tour:
Total tour duration - 15 days / 14 days.
Active part duration - 13 days / 12 nights.
Total duration of itinerary - 3450 km.
Maximal height - 2000 m.
Minimal height - 300 m.
Optimal time for visiting: April - May; September - October.

Temperature during the tour: from +10° till +30° С.

Itinerary is going in Uzbekistan’s territory. Transportation during the tour includes flights and transfers by road transport. Time of duration of Tashkent – Nukus flight is 1 hour. Time of duration of transfer from Bukhara to Tashkent by overnight train is 10 hrs.

Itinerary gradation: this combined itinerary intends mix of excursion, trekking, fishing and adventure jeep-tour program. Tour participant don’t need to have special skills and physical preparations.

Comfort - *****
Difficulty - **
Attractions - *****

Additions: After the end of the tour you will have unique opportunity to see places of interesting of Fergana valley or have a rest in the resort Zone of Charvak Sea.

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Detailed tour description in Uzbekistan:

Day 1. Arrival in Samarkand. Transfer to hotel. Check-in. Excursion around Samarkand.
Greetings to you in Uzbekistan! Have peace and wellbeing! As you get off the plane, you immediately feel being welcome and enjoy the Oriental hospitality.
Geographers and poets once called Samarkand ‘Rome of the Orient’ and even ‘Eden of the Orient’. They had every reason to do so. Thanks to maintaining close cultural relations with ancient China, India, Iran and many other countries this city became the brightest Central Asian gem.
Today’s scholars are not certain where the name of the city derives from. Some Oriental authors believed that its fist part samar was the name of the city’s founder. The other part of it, kand or kent, undoubtedly means ‘a settlement’, ‘a town’. Samarkand enjoyed its heyday under the rule of the famous Tamerlane (also known as Timur), when the city was the capital of his huge empire…
First, we are going to the center of the city to visit Registan, the most spectacular Central Asian square with fascinating architectural monuments. Though the word registan means only ‘a sandy place’, you will hardly see any sand there. At the beginning it was a craft and trade center where the six roads from the city walls met, but then… You will be given a lot of interesting information on the spot.
On the three sides of the square stand the grand buildings of Ulughbek Madrasah (1417 - 1420), Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619 - 1636) and Tilla-Kari Madrasah (1647 - 1660). All of them boast stunning mosaics and almost all the other types of Central Asian interior and exterior decoration at its best.
Madrasah is a Muslim school, college, or university. It was Ulughbek, Tamerlane’s grandson, who began the construction of the first madrasah in the square in 1417. After it was completed in 1420, the square had become a center of science. Over 100 students began to live and study in this medieval Islamic university…
The other two madrasahs, built in the 17th c, are as well grand and splendidly decorated, but in terms of their architectural and decorative merits they are still inferior to Ulughbek Madrasah, their eldest sibling.
Sher-Dor Madrasah (‘a madrasah with tigers’) with fabulous catlike animals and a chamois on its portal takes after Ulughbek Madrasah in design. They built Sher-Dor Madrasah for 17 years by order of Samarkand ruler Yalangtush Bakhadur.
The same ruler ordered to build Tilla-Kari Madrasah (‘a gilded madrasah’) on the northern side of the square. Besides having a madrasah facility, it also had a mosque. The gilded interior decoration inside this monument is what you should never miss…
Next, we are certainly going to Gur-Emir Mausoleum, the mausoleum of Tamerlane and the family crypt of the Timurid Dynasty. This architectural complex with its azure dome contains the tombs of Tamerlane, his two sons, two grandsons, and his teacher.
Soviet archeologists did not believe the local legend saying that opening Tamerlane’s tomb would cause a war. But it seems they had to. Soon after they opened the crypt on June 19, 1941, the German fascists attacked the Soviet Union.
The anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov was able to reconstruct Tamerlane"s facial features from his skull, and it was also confirmed that he was 172 cm in height, a giant for his day, and would have walked with a pronounced limp.
Tamerlane’s skeleton was reburied with full Islamic burial rites in November 1942, at the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad…

Day 2. Samarkand - Nurata. Night in yurt nomad’s tents.
After breakfast we are going on a journey to a yurt camp in the Kyzyl-Kum Desert (kyzyl-kum means ‘red sand’ in Turkic).
A yurt is a circular domed tent of skins or felt stretched over a collapsible lattice framework and used by the nomadic peoples of Asia. You will be able to stay in one and try to feel the exoticism of it at the camp. But if you do not like it, there will be necessary modern comforts for you as well. Just imagine how it is like to stay in such a tiny oasis in a vast hot desert…
On the way to the camp we are going to visit the town of Nurata, which seems to be mysteriously situated in such a remote and unfriendly area - between the desert and the Nurata Mountains. The legend about the town’s origin says, ‘Many years ago some people got lost in the desert. They were nearly dying of thirst when in the morning the saw a ray of light…’ The word nur means ‘a ray of light, a beam’, and ata is ‘a father’. So the name of the town can stand for ‘Father Light’.
Nurata is located at a distance of 190 km from Samarkand. It is a Muslim pilgrimage place. We are going to see its mosques, Namazgokh and Juma, and its blessed spring with holy fish.
The town still has the remains of a fortress built by Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. And it still partially uses the water supply system built by his engineers then!
The day ends with camel rides, if you like any to complement your nomadic experience, and a tasty meal to the sounds of folk songs of an akyn singer.

Days 3-4. Fishing on Arnasay Lake. Night in tourist tent camp.
In the morning we are driving out to a tourist tent camp set up on Arnasay Lake, a part of the man-made Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes of 4000 sq km in area. These man-made lakes have developed a unique ecosystem and have been protected by the state since the late 1970s. They are also a favorite destination of Uzbek anglers.
Our camp is set up at one of the numerous little gulfs and provides all the amenities of a real camping life. Our guide is going to tell you about the fishing in the area and help you catch one or many more of the following: sazan carps, barbel carps, catfishes, zherekh asps, redeyes… In the evening we are tasting various fish meals and enjoy sharing our fishing adventure stories.

Day 5. Arnasay Lake - Sentyabsay (Nurata Mountains) - Bukhara.
The village of Sentyabsay is notable for its people’s traditional mode of life. Only here you can see their unique houses built on steep cliffs. The village is also an ancient gold mining center. They mined gold in the area as far back as the 5th c… After visiting the village, we are going to Bukhara.
‘Noble’ and ‘holy’ are just few of the appreciative epithets Bukhara was given in the past. According to a legend, it was Siavush, a Persian prince from the earliest days of the Persian Empire, who founded this ancient city. Bukhara Zoroastrians worshipped the place where he was killed. On Nowruz, an ancient spring festival, every man used to sacrifice a cock at Bukhara eastern gate Gurian where Siavush had been buried…
During the times of the Samanids (819 - 999) Bukhara, the capital of their empire, was considered the greatest city of the Islamic world. It had also become the center of trade between China and Western Asia and the main currency exchange of almost all Asian peoples. This is where the 19th-century saying ‘he is all eyes like a Bukhara money-changer’ comes from…
After the tiring journey comes the night in a hotel. Tomorrow you are getting to know the city they once called ‘God’s Charm’...

Day 6. Excursion around Bukhara.
After breakfast you are going on a 6-hour guided excursion around Bukhara. First, we are visiting Samanids Mausoleum (9th - 10th c), one of the most esteemed Central Asian architectural monuments. It was built as the resting-place of Ismail Samani, the founder of the last Persian dynasty, which ruled in Central Asia. The monument marks a new era in the development of Central Asian architecture after the Arab conquest of the region, incorporating both pre-Islamic and Arab Islamic architectural traditions. Especially impressive are the brickwork patterns of the mausoleum. They look different as the light changes during the day…
Next, we are going to the holy burial ground Chashma-Ayub Mazar (14th - 19th c) with Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum. Its name in Persian means ‘Job"s spring’. The biblical prophet Job, called Ayub in Asia, once came to Bukhara as a wanderer, hit the ground with his staff here, and thus opened a spring with clean and healing water… Then follows the complex Po-i-Kalyan (12th - 16th c) with the famous Kalyan Minaret. Built in 1127, this 49-meter-high minaret was used as a watchtower, then as an execution facility…
Next, it is another Ulughbek Madrasah. Ulughbek, Tamerlane’s grandson, the famous mathematician and astronomer, ‘king on the throne’, ordered to build it in 1417… It is also Lab-i-Hauz Ensemble (1568-1622) consisting of Kukeldash Madrasah (1568-1569), the largest in the city, and two religious edifices built by Nadir Divan-Beghi: a khanaka (1620), a lodging-house for itinerant Sufis, and a madrasah (1622). Lab-i Hauz means ‘by the pond’. It is the name of the area surrounding one of the few remaining hauz ponds in Bukhara. Until the Soviet times there had been many such ponds. They were the city"s principal source of water. During the 1920s and 1930s most of them were destroyed. Lyab-i Hauz pond survived…
And it is, of course, the impressive fortress Ark (5th - 6th c). In addition to being a military structure, Ark contained what the city was during much of its history. It was also the residence of various Bukhara royal courts. Ark had been used as a fortress until it fell to Russia in 1920.
In the evening we are going to the railway station to take the train that leaves for Tashkent.

Day 7. Arrival in Tashkent. Drive to Chimgan. Hike in Twelve Springs Gorge.
The mountain resort Chimgan in the West Tien Shan is a great recreation destination all year round. Chimgan attracts various types of people: picnickers, mountaineers, skiers, enthusiasts of botany, ornithology, archeology, paleontology… All of them get powerful charges of energy and inspiration in this area. Its diverse terrain is a perfect place for adventure and landscape tourism. Snow-covered mountains in all their majesty, crystalline streams, stunning waterfalls, alpine meadows…
You are accommodated in two-person tents in Chimgan Alpine Camp in Aksay Gorge. Today you are offered one of the following: a hike in Twelve Springs Gorge, sunbathing, and rock-climbing.
And if you like, you can also try to ascent Maliy Chimgan Mountain (2100 m). You will need some endurance for this, but it is worth the feeling of a conquered peak and the breathtaking view of Charvak Lake and the surrounding Ugham and Pskem Ranges. Then we are descending to Gulkam Gorge, with a birch grove on the way. Beautiful sceneries around will all the time be compensating for your tiredness.
In the evening we are all getting together around a fire to share our impressions and enjoy guitar songs.

Day 8. Light Trek: Akshuran Mountain Pass - White Castle - Karakulsay. Night in tent camp.
We shall be trekking in the north spurs of the Chatkal Range. It will take 3-4 hours, with not more than 200 elevation meters to ascent.
After breakfast we are walking along an old earth road and then up along a track to Akshuran Mountain Pass, stopping on the way to again and again enjoy the breathtaking landscape of Chimgan mountains. After having lunch on the ridge of Kyzyljar Mountain we are not hurrying to go on: the camp we are going to spend the night is only within an hour away…
The camp is set up on a picturesque meadow with a terrific view of Chimgan Mountain. After making ourselves comfortable in the camp, we still have enough time to relax and enjoy the place. In the evening it is again a tasty dinner and a wonderful time at a fire under the endless starry sky…

Day 9. Trek along Karakulsay. Drive to Tashkent. Excursion around Tashkent. Night in a hotel.
After breakfast we are taking the track back to Akshuran where you can leave your luggage and, if you like, ascent Kurbunbuk Mountain nearby, which is quite easy. On the top of it you again enjoy the terrific view of the Chirchik River valley and the mountain ranges of Pskem, Ugham and Korjantau - all of them stretching for kilometers, like on the palm… Back on the pass we have lunch and walk down along the picturesque Karkankul River, through juniper and walnut woods, to where our vehicles are waiting for us to take us back to Tashkent…
After a short rest in a hotel, we shall still be able to go on a short excursion around the capital of Uzbekistan. You can choose to visit any of the following: Khast-Imam Complex, Kukeldash Madrasah, Chor-Su Market, Museum of Applied Arts, Independence Square, Amir Timur Square…

Day 10. Flight Tashkent - Nukus. Drive to Muynak. Excursion. Night in tent camp.
After breakfast we are flying to Nukus, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. Nukus is situated in the Amu-Darya River Delta, 1255 km to the west of Tashkent.
Our today’s destination is the city of Muynak. But before we get there, we shall be visiting the town of Khodjeyli and its extremely interesting architectural and historical complex Mizdakkhan. Mizdakkhan is a large necropolis with graves and mausoleums of different times and religions. They say that if you build a 7-stone pyramid here, your most coveted wish will come true. And it is also the place where you can learn the location of Adam’s grave!
In Muynak you will best of all realize how sad the Aral Sea disaster turned out to be. Home to only a few thousand residents at most, Muynak"s population has been declining precipitously since the 1980s due to the recession of the Aral Sea. Once a bustling fishing community and Uzbekistan"s only port city with tens of thousands of residents, Muynak is now a shadow of its former self, dozens of miles from the rapidly receding shoreline of the Aral Sea. Muynak"s major "tourist attractions" are the incongruous armada of rusting hulks that made up the proud fishing fleet during the Soviet era. They call it ‘a cemetery of ships’…
We are staying in a tent camp near Muynak, on the bottom of what just a short time ago was a deep sea…

Day 11. Drive to Aral Sea shoreline. Swimming. Night in tent camp.
In the morning we are setting out on a long journey to the Aral Sea shoreline. The Aral Sea, suffering from one the world’s worst ecological disasters, is quite young. According to one of the hypotheses it formed about 10 thousand years ago. It had grown shallow twice during its life, but each time its waters rose to the mark of 55 m above sea level. In the 1960s the inflow of the rivers Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya, which fed the sea, decreased: their waters were sent to irrigation canals to support cotton growing in other parts of the country. By the 1990s the inflow to the sea had decreased tenfold, and the sea had split up into two parts: the large one with the Amu-Darya flowing into it, and the small one fed with the Syr-Darya. By 2007 the sea"s surface area had further shrunk to 10% of its original size. Ecologists say that the sea will have completely dried up by 2015 unless some emergency measures are taken.
After seeing what the remaining Aral Sea is looking like now, we are spending the night in a tent camp set up near it.

Day 12. Drive to Nukus. Check-in at hotel.
We are driving back to Nukus. After checking in at a hotel and some rest you may want to get some more interesting information. We can visit Nukus Museum of Art (also known as the State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after Igor V. Savitsky). The museum is famous for its collection of modern Russian and Uzbek art of 1918-1935 all over the world. Stalin tried his best to eliminate all non-Soviet art of this period, and sent most of the artists to the Gulag. But Igor Savitsky, the prominent Soviet artist, ‘Central Asian Tretiakov’, and his collection of Russian avant-garde paintings in Nukus survived because of the city"s remoteness. Now it is the world’s second largest collection of Russian avant-garde paintings. During 1957-1966, Igor Savitskiy also assembled an extensive collection of Karakalpak jewelry, carpets, coins, clothing and other artifacts. He convinced the authorities of the need for a museum, and, following its establishment, was appointed its curator in 1966. After his death in 1984 Igor Savitskiy was called ‘a savior of beauty’. Francois Mitterand and Albert Gore called his museum ‘one of the best in the world’.

Days 13-14. Flight Nukus - Tashkent. Drive to the Syr-Darya. Fishing. Night in tent camp.
Fishing on the Syr-Darya River is the final stroke of the tour. Warm weather, sandy islands and spits, various kinds of fish… Take your fishing tackle and go! There is always something to catch: sazan carps, silver carps, crucian carps, snakeheads, pikeperches, zherekh asps and, of course, catfishes. The largest catfish once caught in Uzbekistan weighed 432 kilos. The Syr-Darya is a perfect river for catfishes to live in and grow to such size.
And once again, we are having tasty fish dinner and enjoy sharing our fishing adventure stories in the evening.

Day 15. Drive back to Tashkent. Departure.
Our tour around Uzbekistan has ended. We tried not to miss the most important and interesting attractions and activities in the country. There is, of course, a lot more to try and enjoy if you had more time…

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