This fascinating exclusive combined full of events tour will meet you with beauty of Chimgan Mountains and ancient history of Uzbekistan.
Chimgan mountains ski-resort is very popular among people all over the world devoted to the active rest and it is quite plainly why: because of its accessibility Chimgan Mountains area is one of the most beautiful mountain regions of the western Tien-Shan. Fast races against wind, descents by mountain-ski, snowy landscapes of the branches of Chatkal range, taking breath away, opportunity to become bronzed in winter - here is not full list of all attractive things possible when you are having a rest in Chimgan mountains area.
Huge charge of energy and inspiration are guaranteed for everyone who spent here at least several hours! You will unique opportunity to visit worldwide-known monuments of Samarkand and Bukhara. These cities are still kept the memories of the Alexander the Great and Genghis-Khan and many trade caravans of Great Silk Road! Welcome to Central Asia!

Dates for combined teams:

Group № 1 – from 03.01.2011 till 14.01.2011
Group № 2 – from 24.01.2011 till 04.02.2011
Group № 3 – from 07.02.2011 till 18.02.2011
Group № 4 – from 21.02.2011 till 01.03.2011

The program of the tour:

Day 1. Arrival at Tashkent. City tour.
Day 2. Transfer to Chimgan resort area. Accommodation in hotel.
Day 3. Mountain-ski tour.
Day 4. Walking to the Pesochniy (“Sandy”) pass, ascent to Small Chimgan.
Day 5. Paragliding flights.
Day 6. Horse-back riding.
Day 7. Mountain-ski tour.
Day 8. Mountain-ski tour. Transfer to Tashkent. Overnight train to Bukhara.
Day 9. Arrival at Bukhara. Full day of city tour.
Day 10. Transfer to Samarkand. Half day of city tour.
Day 11. Half day of city tour. Transfer to Tashkent.
Day 12. Free time. Transfer to airport or railway station - departure.

detailed tour description >>

The cost includes:

• Meeting/seeing off at the airport or railway station;
• Accommodation in twin/dbl share with breakfast at the following hotels:
  • "Raduss JSS" in Tashkent - 2 nights;
  • "Asia Chimgan" in Chimgan mountains - 6 nights;
  • "Malika Prime" in Samarkand - 1 night;
  • "Asia Bukhara"in Bukhara - 1 night.
• All transfers according to the tour;
• Guide services for the 4,5 and 6-th days of the active program;
• Flight as a passenger by tandem;
• Horse-back riding till Chimgan tract;
• City tour program in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara;
• Railway tickets for Tashkent-Bukhara overnight train;
• Farewell dinner in Tashkent at day of departure (or farewell lunch depending on the time of departure).

The cost of the tour doesn’t include:

• Insurance;
• Rent of the mountain-ski equipment;
• Dinners and suppers;
• Entry fees to the main monuments;
• Tickets for the chair-lift and pooling elevator.

Photo of the tour:

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Detailed tour description:

Day 01. Arrival in Tashkent. Transfer to hotel. Sightseeing.
Whenever you arrive in Tashkent, be it day or night, you’ll be met by our representative in the airport or train station and transferred to a comfortable hotel. You are in a kind of Christmas mood because city lies in snow, not to mention our Chimgan Mountains, where snow is really abundant. You will get evidence to this during your trip to the mountains the next day. Meanwhile we invite you to make a short sightseeing tour round Tashkent. Wintertime brings a special look to the townscape: the trees are covered with glittering virgin snow, the grass is blanketed in a bit thawed snow, and there are islets of snow on the wet asphalt. We are not sure what kind of winter awaits you during your visit to Tashkent, but local people always rejoice at the snowfall - the rare gift of nature when the city looks different and children go wild from buoyancy while adults try their best to conceal the feeling of rapture. But let’s get back to the subject. Warmth and comfort of the tourist bus will make your sightseeing of the most interesting city attractions even more pleasant. You will also be taken to the local oriental “Chorsu” bazaar where you will be able to buy numerous souvenirs. For dinner we invite you to a local restaurant where the most pleasant impressions of the Uzbek hospitality will be supplemented with impressions about mouth-watering dishes of Uzbek national cuisine. After dinner you’ll be transferred back to the hotel to have rest and good sleep and to gear up for Chimgan adventures.

Day 02. Transfer to Chimgan - Beldersay resort zone (1500m above sea level).
Right after breakfast we set off to Chimgan. Chimgan… sounds impressive! Chimgan is an everlasting holiday for those who don’t like home routine, it is a wonderful corner that Mother Nature presented us with and which people can enjoy all the year round. Chimgan is very beautiful in spring and summer, amazingly wonderful and silent in autumn, but in winter… Winter changes everything - the eye cannot identify the familiar landscapes now blanketed in snow; you can hardly believe that this is the very place you were walking through with your back pack last summer. Yes, this is our favourite Chimgan - fascinating, generous, friendly, and so changeable… We’ll drive along perfect serpentine road, which leads from Chirchik valley that embraces Chatkal range. Ascending the road, you will watch the transformation of snow-covered foothills into fabulous landscapes with main heroes being wonderful white mountains with juniper forests, powdered with snow and sleeping in winter’s embrace, full of serenity in long anticipation of warm spring…
But winter breeze does not fear us - hotel is warm, comfortable and has everything civilization can offer. Well, now grab your skis, snowboards and sleds (don’t forget your children) and run towards the closest chair lift. Of course, if the hotel you are staying in is on the shore of Charvak water reservoir or very close to it, we’ll provide you with transportation service for the whole period of your skiing tour in Chimgan and Beldersay. Other hotels are in immediate proximity to skiing tracks and chair lifts, so you don’t need any transportation.
And one more thing. Throughout your stay in the mountains you will be accompanied by a guide - a skillful skier, as enthusiastic about winter sports as you are, so don’t be afraid to get lost or to ride into a wrong snow track - he will not let you fail as he has long-term skiing experience and knows these mountains like the back of his hand. (See below the details of his glorious abilities).
So, go ahead! Chimgan slopes are waiting for you!

Day 03. Full day skiing.
Good morning! Did you sleep well? Yes, we know - your body hurts, you have skied too much. We feel the same. Every time we say to ourselves: “Don’t get your fill of it on the very first day!” - but no! What does a man, who months after months does nothing but sits at his computer staring at the monitor, really need? No, not beer! (Beer comes later). He needs snow tracks, only snow tracks, nothing but snow tracks, the longer the better. That’s why today, to treat your muscular pain, take your skis and snowboards and up a slope we go (there are many of them here). You’d better have a good breakfast - don’t leave anything on your plates! What is the weather like today? Super as usual! The famous lines from Alexander Pushkin’s verses occur to mind: "Frost and sun, what a wonderful day". So, go ahead!

Day 04. Walk to Pesochniy pass (1832m), ascent to the top of small Chimgan (2097m).
Haven’t you forgotten to take ski poles? Are the boots OK? Then everything is all right. Today we are going to somersault in snow! Thus coveralls, gloves, boots and snow goggles will come in handy. By the way, don’t forget about your camera, but be sure it is properly packed in order to protect it from moisture. Well, is everyone ready? Then let’s go! At the beginning, while we are walking to Kozlinoye gorge, it’s rather easy. But once we swerve from the road a real fun starts: you will have to raise your legs upper and sometimes pick them out from snowdrifts. Actually it’s a very funny picture: falling into the snow, puffing, comically shaking legs, adult men and women are persistently climbing up (normal people, observing it, diagnose: “They are just madmen!”). But we know that madmen are those, who sit at home in front of their TV sets and grow fat. We, on the contrary, are loosing weight in a very healthy and pleasant way. Well, we do sweat, but it is not bad at all, it simply means we are warm. And then, once we finally reach the Pesochniy pass, we’ll be able to observe a really enchanting beauty of snowy Gulkam gorge. (By the way, should you wish to experience the famous Gulkam gorge in winter and should the snow cover be deep enough, we can try to descend to it). Have you recovered your breath? Ready to go to Small Chimgan? It’s a fairly steep climb at the beginning, which then, to the very top, becomes almost horizontal.
We don’t insist, of course, but don’t you want to take fantastic, just surrealistic view of winter Charvak? That is where mystic starts… So have a snack, drink something hot (here we mean tea or coffee!) - and let’s make it!
Standing on the top of this not so high but still majestic top, you will understand why we wanted you to see all this beauty! Coming back is just a pleasure! Snow path is beaten hard and soon you’ll be back in hotel, where you can take a hot shower, drink something strong and look through the pictures taken during the day. These are what we call ‘pleasant moments of life’. Isn’t it nice, after an eventful day, to sit in the bar with your friends sipping some really ‘hot’ stuff?

Day 05. Paragliding (can you fancy that?).
We bet you will be really surprised today! Look at your guide, at this shy and nice guy. What do you think he is? You will never guess! Your guide is not only a mountaineer and cool skier, his main hobby is paragliding! He is a very experienced pilot, who cannot imagine his life without taking an opportunity to paraglide at least once a week. Besides, he is a perfect instructor in this type of extreme, who can (at your choice) either teach you this fascinating sport or fly you on a tandem paraglider. This is a very beautiful red and white wing, which is intended for two people – a pilot and a greenhorn. Moreover, as a greenhorn you are not to do anything but to move your legs in order to gain speed, to listen to pilot’s instructions, and then to yell with ecstatic joy (or fear, or both), cheerfully hanging on the belly of your guardian angel. A greenhorn couldn’t even imagine until this day, that it’s possible to fly like this in the sky (like Santa Claus does driving in sleigh with deer team on Christmas Eve) and to observe the endless white, snowy space beneath (Fancy yourself as a Santa Claus!). Fascination, happiness, adrenalin, eyes like saucers - all these are about you!
If you are not a greenhorn, but a really experienced pilot, and in addition you brought your own paraglider (why not?), then it’s quite different! Your guide is not going to keep secret of the best places for paragliding, but on the contrary is ready to share the information. What you have to do is just immediately try it yourself. Real pilots are like this: they cannot help trying the new environment - it’s like a chronic illness, you cannot get away from it… And why should you, anyway?
So we’ll spend the whole day paragliding in Beldersay!
Surely the evening will be full of discussions, impressions and boastful stories with demonstration of photos in witness of today’s personal successes.

Day 06. Horse riding in Chimgan.
Before leaving this enchanted area, we suggest that you should take a short horseback riding trip. Horses in Chimgan are very nice, so you will definitely enjoy it. We shall ride up Kizil-Jar (“Red slope”) hill and well actually see a red precipice on the other side not visible from Chimgan side. The contrast of red sand-clay rock and white snow is really captivating whereas the depth of the precipice is breath-taking, especially when you stand on its edge. In case snow is not too deep, we can ride up the Aksay river, which naturally enough is covered with snow at this time of the year. Proceeding up the river we finally reach the place marked with snowslide. From time to time numerous avalanches, small and big, remind about their existence, crashing down Big Chimgan, causing among the vacationers delight and admire rather than fear as on the one hand snowslide is really a spectacular sight, but on the other hand there is no risk at all as they are too far and in no way can reach us. So we can fully admire Mother Nature and its might not on the TV screen but in reality.

Day 07. Full-day skiing.
Morning has come again, a wonderful winter morning in Chimgan, which you were looking forward to since yesterday evening. We’ll delight in skiing and snowboarding the whole day today. First decide on locality: we can ski either in Beldersay or Chimgan. It doesn’t matter too much though, because one way or another today we are going to have a real fun! Get geared up and go! go! go!

Day 08. Half-day skiing. Transfer to Tashkent. Evening train Tashkent - Bukhara.
After paragliding (was it a dream or reality?) skiing and snowboarding on solid surface seem a less exciting pastime. But this is a wrong impression. Once an ace like you starts skiing or snowboarding down the hill, hearing the sound of crispy snow under the feet, invisible mechanism of emotions starts spinning faster and faster and again you are flying directly to the sunny wind of these snowy slopes. Today (we remind you with sadness…) our downhill skiing program is coming to and end, so ski with all your heart and try to remember Chimgan sun, nice people with whom you became good friends, and take thousands of pictures, which will always remind you about your adventures. Our experience prompts that the most interesting part of your adventures comes when sitting among your friends with a cup of coffee you recollect your vacation and overcome with emotions and choking with pride you start telling them about your ‘heroic’ adventures.
Well, after enjoyable skiing, time comes to drive back to Tashkent. So let’s return to hotel, get your backpacks and suitcases packed, board the coach and off we go towards the Uzbek capital. However, we are not going to stay in Tashkent, dear friends. We go straight to the railway station to take a night train to Bukhara. Surrounded by a romantic atmosphere of train dim lights, viewing fantastic winter landscapes through the train window, we’ll pass away this fantastic night chatting and exchanging the impressions of the previous few days, or giving in to fatigue you drop off to sleep under the accompaniment of rumbling wheels of the train.

Day 09. Arrival to Bukhara. Accommodation in hotel. Full-day sightseeing.
We have finally arrived to Bukhara, and a comfortable coach takes us to the hotel. We leave behind our skiing, paragliding, horse riding activities… Enough is enough. Now we are civilized travelers who have come here to study oriental antiquities.
We don’t need to tell you how rich the history of Bukhara is. The sightseeing tour will help you to get to know this majestic city. Indeed, one day is not enough to visit all interesting sights in Bukhara, but at least you can plunge yourself into the atmosphere of oriental culture of the past great epoch.
This land has given the world many great scholars and architects. Their rich legacy has enriched the world culture heritage.
Evening in winter Bukhara… Probably, in your life this evening is going to be the only one of its kind, as you will spend it not outdoors under the warm starry sky, but in a warm room of the hotel, getting amazed at the fact that severe cold can overtake this southern city. It’s hard to believe, it runs counter to your conception of the south. It’s incredible and at the same time interesting, isn’t it?

Day 10. Transfer to Samarkand. Hotel accommodation. Afternoon sightseeing of Samarkand.
Early in the morning we’ll leave for another famous ancient city on the Great Silk Road – city of Samarkand. Look through the window! The snow blanket has covered the city. There is snow on turquoise domes; there is snow on ancient stones of the squares! Snow absorbs sounds of the city and it seems that silence prevails in the air… But this is a mistaken impression. The city seethes with life. Following this rhythm we, too start for the city sightseeing and will try to see and learn about Samarkand as much as possible. We won’t miss anything! The city is flooded with signs of approaching New Year, but amazingly it does not distract us from the guide’s stories, which utterly captivate us. You feel invisible presence of the heroes of legends and events, which sank into oblivion long before, but whose shadows seem to still wander along the streets and lanes of modern Samarkand…

Day 11. Morning sightseeing in Samarkand. Transfer to Tashkent. Accommodation in hotel. Time at leisure. Gala dinner.
Today we proceed with our sightseeing round Samarkand. There are so many other city highlights to see. As soon as we finish excursion, we’ll board the coach and start for Tashkent, where your impressions of the cities shrouded in mystery will be flavoured with a wonderful gala dinner. We deserve a good celebration of these unforgettable Christmas holidays. Let’s drink to new adventures and to our next meeting in the nearest future! Cheers!

Day 12. Time at leisure to relax or explore the area. Transfer to the airport for your return flight.
Holidays were made for adventures and we hope you liked your adventures in Uzbekistan.
On our part we are always happy to serve you, to make your trip to Uzbekistan full of unforgettable impressions. Moreover, we always have something new, something really interesting and exotic. We wish you all the best and hope to see you again.

Photo of the tour:

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