Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan: Historical Insight

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Plan of personalized tour. Cities and number of days in each city.

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During business hours reservation confirmation is carried out for 30 minutes

$2600.00

15 day(s)

from January to December

Code of tour:

UZTM15HIS

Tour countries:

UzbekistanTurkmenistan

Type of tour:

Historical, General

Tashkent – Urgench/Khiva – Kunye-Urgench – Dashoguz – Ashgabat – Nissa – Mary – Gonurdepe – Turkmenabat – Bukhara – Gijduvan – Samarkand – Tashkent 

Day 1    Tashkent

Arrive in Tashkent, transfer to the hotel. Check in, free time. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 2    Tashkent – Urgench/Khiva

Breakfast in the hotel. Transfer to the airport and flight to Urgench at 08.40. Transfer to Khiva. Hotel check in. Full day for sightseeing of Khiva – AM sightseeing including visits to the inner town of Ichan Kala (XIV-XX CC) with Muhamad Amin khan Madrassah, Kalta Minor Minaret, Kunya Ark, Muhamad Rahim khan Madrassah, Djuma Mosque and Minaret, Tash Hauli Palace. Lunch in so called restaurant-Madrassah of the XIX century. PM sightseeing for 2 hrs: Islam Khodja Minaret and Madrassah, Shirgazi khan Madrassah, Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 3    Khiva

Breakfast in the hotel. Sightseeing tour with visits to Kyzyl Qala, Toprak Qala, Ayaz Qala, Janbas Qala and Guldursan Qala. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 4    Khiva – Konye-Urgench – Dashoguz –Ashgabat 

Meet the tourists at the Dashoguz border at Dashoguz city. Drive to Konya-Urgench (UNESKO 2005) – ancient capital of Khorezm and one of the greatest cities on the Silk Road, which was formerly situated on the banks of Amu-Darya River. Its foundation date is uncertain, but the extant ruins of the Kyrkmolla fortress have been dated (rather ambitiously) to the Achaemenid period. The 12th and early 13th centuries were the golden age of Urgench, it became the capital of Khorezm Empire and it surpassed in population and fame all other Central Asian cities barring Bukhara. In 1221, Genghis Khan razed it to the ground in one of the bloodiest massacres in human history. The city was revived after Genghis's assault, but the sudden change of Amu-Darya's course to the north and the town's destruction again in the 1370s, this time by Timur, forced the inhabitants to leave the site forever. The area was later inhabited by Turkmen in 1831, but they built outside the old town, using it as a graveyard. Check local landmarks, visit the historical site (Mausoleums of Turebek-Khanym, Sultan Tekesh, Sultan Il Arslan, Najmad-din-Kubra, Sultan Ali. Discover the Kutlug Timur minaret & Kyrk Molla (40 Mullahs) hill.  

Drive back to Dashoguz city for flight to Ashgabat. Transfer to the hotel. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 5    Ashgabat – Nissa

Breakfast in the hotel. The guide will meet tourists at the lobby and will start Ashgabat city tour. First half of the day will be spend sightseeing the major landmarks of Ashgabat – the capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established by Russian officers in 1881 after the Battle of Geok Tepe. In 2013 the city was included into The Gunnies Book of records as the only white marbled city in the world. It is not far from the site of Nisa, the ancient capital of the Parthian Empire.

Within this tour you will visit Ten Years of Independence Park, Turkmenbashy Square with marble-faced Ruhyyet Palace and gold-domed Turkmenbashy Palace, Wedding Palace, modern Yildyz Hotel, building of Constitution, Arch of Neutrality and other beauty sights of Ashgabat.  You will be also taken to grandious Square of Revival (Galkynysh) - a new administrative, business and cultural center of Ashgabat. Have a stroll along Ylham (Inspiration) Park.

After you will be taken for an excursion outside Ashgabat (15km west of capital) to visit Nissa fortress: the Parthian site of Old Nisa, known as Konye Nusay in Turkmen. Old Nisa has a striking geographical location, on top of a small hill on the southeast side of the village, offering splendid views towards the Kopet Dag Mountains to the south. Overnight

Day 6    Ashgabat – Mary – Gonurdepe - Mary

Breakfast in the hotel. Morning flight to Mary city. Drive to Gonurdepe. Driving off-road for what seems several hours and leaving clouds of dust behind, your car climbs a hill from where you can see excavations into the ancient country Margush. The Margiana country occupied an area of more than 3000 sq. km and consisted of 78 oasis and more than 150 compact settlements. The American newspaper "Boston Globe" wrote that before we knew the four oldest centers of the world's civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China, and now due to the fantastic results of the Margiana expedition it’s quite possible to think that there was another, the fifth center. Drive back to Mary city. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 7    Mary – Merv – Turkmenabat

Breakfast in the hotel. Morning drive to Turkmenabat city. On the way visit ancient Merv – “Queen of the world”, one of the most important capitals of Islam along with Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus. Sightseeing of ancient Merv includes: Gyz Gala & Oglan Gala (VI-VII), Complex of Askhabs (VIII-XIV), Gyaur Gala (IV BC), Buddhist Complex (IV-VI), Beni Makhan Mosque – first Mosque build in Central Asia. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 8    Turkmenabat – Bukhara

Breakfast in the hotel. Drive to Farab Border (45 min). After customs and border formalities (1 hour) drive to Bukhara (2 hours). Hotel check in. Free time. Overnight in a hotel. 

Day 9    Bukhara

Breakfast in the hotel. Full day in Bukhara. AM portion of city tour for 4 hrs with visits to the Ark Fortress (I-XX CC), Bolo Hauz Mosque (XVIII C), Samanids Mausoleum (IX-X CC), Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum (XII-XVI CC). Lunch. PM portion of s/s tour on foot along the old town of Bukhara from Poi-Kalyan complex with Kalyan Minaret (XII C) through orient bazaars with three trade domes of Toki Zargaron (XV C), Toki Sarrafon (XVI C), Toki Telpak Furushon (XVI C), Ulugbek Madrassah (XV C), Abdulazizkhan Madrassah (XVII C) to the Lyabi Hauz complex (XVI -XVII CC). Night in Bukhara.

Day 10    Bukhara

Breakfast in the hotel. Today we drive outside Bukhara for sightseeing: Baghautdin Nakhshbandi Complex – a center of Sufism (XIV-XVI CC, 14 km outside the town), Sitorai Mokhi Khosa – summer residence of the last Emir of Bukhara (XIX-XX, 4 km outside the town). Afternoon visit to the Chor Bakr Necropolis (XVI-XX CC, 10 km outside the town), back to Bukhara and a visit to the Chor-Minor (Four Minarets, XIX C). Overnight in a hotel.

Day 11    Bukhara – Gijduvan – Samarkand

Breakfast in the hotel. Morning drive to Samarkand (280 km, 4 hrs.) On the way you will visit the house of one of the famous ceramic masters in Gijduvan (50 km to Bukhara) to enjoy the technique of making pottery from local clay and later stop to see the ruins of the XI century caravanserai Malik Rabat. Arrival to Samarkand and hotel check-in. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 12    Samarkand

Breakfast in the hotel. Sightseeing in Samarkand: Registan Square (XV-XVII CC), Gur Emir Mausoleum (tomb of Tamerlane), Shakhi Zinda Necropolis (XI-XX CC), Bibi Khanum Mosque (XIV-XV CC) and Samarkand oriental bazaar. Overnight in a hotel.

Day 13    Samarkand

Breakfast in the hotel. Continue sightseeing tour in Samarkand: Ulugbek Observatory (XV C), Excavation of an ancient city and museum of Afrosiab, Tombstone of Saint Daniyar. At 15:00 p.m. transfer to the Railway Station and depart Samarkand via high-speed train “Afrosiyob” at 17:00 p.m. and arrive to Tashkent at 19:10 p.m. Arrive to Tashkent and hotel check-in. Overnight in a hotel. 

Day 14    Tashkent 

Breakfast in the hotel. Sightseeing tour of Tashkent to the old and new parts of the city: Amir Timur Square, Applied Art Museum, Earthquake Memorial, Abdul Kasim Madrassah Alisher Navoi National Park, Independence Square. Afternoon visit to the older part of the city at Hast-Imam Plaza: Barak-Khan Medressa (16th c) - headquarter of the Sunni Mufti of ex-Sogdian Central Asia & Kazakhstan. It is interesting with its mosaic and Arabic calligraphy dated late 16 century. Barakhan Madrassah, which accommodates the Clerical Board of Central Asian Moslems, and its famous Library, with over 30.000 books, 3500 manuscripts and the precious sample of the Holy Koran, written by the fourth Caliph Osman and bearing stains of his blood on its pages. Brick facade and the intricately carved doors made by Samarqand craftsmen, Tilla Sheikh Mosque & Library (if Library is open you can see Original Koran!), then visit to Tashkent Metro and Chorsu oriental bazaar. Night in Tashkent.

Day 15: Tashkent

Breakfast in the hotel. Check out and transfer to airport for a return flight.

Tour schedule

Please note that this is the sample of itinerary and we can tailor any tour based on your request.