Mangystau, the Aral Sea and classic Uzbekistan in 14 days

Highlights

• Torysh, Sherkala, Bozzhyra and Tuzbair by 4x4
• A night in yurts on the shore of the Aral Sea
• The ship cemetery of Moynak and the Savitsky Museum in Nukus
• The Chilpik Zoroastrian tower of silence
• A full day in Khiva’s walled Ichan-Kala (UNESCO)
• Bukhara, Poi-Kalyan and the trading domes
• The Registan, Shah-i-Zinda and Gur-Emir in Samarkand

By trainBy road

1. 1 Mangystau By road → Karakalpakstan
2. 2 Karakalpakstan
3. 3 Muynak & the Aral Sea By road → Nukus
4. 4 NukusDays 7–8 By road → Khiva
5. 5 KhivaDays 8–10
6. 6 BukharaDays 10–12 By train → Samarkand
7. 7 SamarkandDays 12–13 By train → Tashkent
8. 8 TashkentDays 13–14

Positions are exact; lines show the order of the route, not the road.

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10. 10
11. 11
12. 12
13. 13
14. 14

1. Day 1Flight to Aktau

   International flight to Aktau, for example with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

2. Day 2Aktau – Torysh – Kokkala – Sherkala – Ayrakty – KogezMinibus and 4x4

   Morning arrival in Aktau. Welcome to Kazakhstan, the largest country in Central Asia, and to Mangystau, its most mysterious region, in the far west on the borders of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Coffee break with the local team near the airport, then off by 4x4 onto the Ustyurt Plateau.

   First the Torysh valley and its strange spherical stones, then the many-coloured Kokkala canyon and Akmysh. Picnic lunch. On to Mount Sherkala, where an ancient fortress served as a beacon for Silk Road caravans, and Ayrakty, the valley of the “floating castles”. Night in yurts at the Kogez ethnographic village.

3. Day 3Kogez – Kyzylkup – Bokty – BozzhyraBy 4x4

   Through the Kyzylkup hills, the “Tiramisu hills” with their coloured layers, to sacred Mount Bokty, pictured on Kazakhstan’s banknotes. Picnic lunch, then Bozzhyra, perhaps the most iconic sight of Mangystau. Dinner and night in igloo tents.

4. Day 4Bozzhyra – Mount Naiza – TuzbairBy 4x4

   Through the central and upper canyons of Bozzhyra towards Mount Naiza, with a picnic lunch, then down to Tuzbair, the salt lake below white cliffs and one of the jewels of Kazakhstan. Dinner and night in tents.

5. Day 5Upper Tuzbair – BeyneuBy 4x4

   A last drive along the upper rim of Tuzbair for the great views over Mangystau and the Ustyurt Plateau, then on to the small town of Beyneu and a hotel.

6. Day 6Beyneu – Uzbek border – Aral SeaAbout 400 km

   Drive 90 km to the Kazakh–Uzbek border and cross it. Meet the Uzbek team and continue in their 4x4s: asphalt as far as Jaslyk, then tracks north to the Aral Sea. Settle into a yurt camp near the shore, walk along the water and perhaps swim. Dinner and night in the yurts.

7. Day 7Aral Sea – Moynak – Mizdakhan – NukusAbout 380 km

   Early rise for sunrise over the Aral Sea. Drive to Moynak, once one of the great ports of Central Asia, whose fishermen landed 160 tonnes of fish a day until the late 1970s. See the ship cemetery on the dry seabed and the local museum, then the 14th-century Mizdakhan necropolis near Khojeyli, and on to Nukus.

8. Day 8Nukus – Chilpik – Khiva250 km

   Visit the Savitsky Museum, the “Louvre of the Steppe”, with the world’s second-largest collection of Russian avant-garde art. Leaving Nukus, stop at Chilpik, an ancient Zoroastrian tower of silence, then continue to Khiva.

9. Day 9Khiva

   A full day in Ichan-Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the most intact Silk Road city in Central Asia.

   Enter by the western Ata Darvaza gate to the Muhammad Amin Khan madrasah and the Kalta Minor minaret, then the Kunya Ark fortress with its reception hall, royal mosque and harem. Continue with the Juma Mosque and its 213 carved wooden columns, the Tash Hovli palace, the mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud, poet, philosopher, wrestler and patron saint of the city, the Islam Khoja madrasah and minaret, and the royal caravanserai.

10. Day 10Khiva – Bukhara450 km

    Across the Kyzylkum, the “red sands”, on a road that at times runs beside the wide bed of the Amu Darya. Rising in the glaciers of the Pamirs and more than 2,500 km long, it is the longest river in Central Asia, the Oxus of the Greeks, along whose upper valley a Bronze Age civilisation built monumental cities. Arrive in Bukhara.

11. Day 11Bukhara

    A full day in Bukhara: the 9th-century Samanid mausoleum, the Poi-Kalyan ensemble with the 12th-century Kalyan minaret, the Kalyan mosque, which held ten thousand worshippers, and the Mir-i-Arab madrasah; the 16th-century trading domes of the jewellers, the hat-makers and the money-changers; the Lyabi-Hauz ensemble with the Nadir Divan-Begi khanaka and madrasah, the Kukeldash madrasah and the great bazaar.

12. Day 12Bukhara – Samarkand220 km

    Drive to Samarkand, the legendary crossroads of the Silk Road. Begin with the Registan, whose three madrasahs, Ulugbek, Sher-Dor and Tilla-Kari, are clad in majolica and lapis-blue mosaic, then the giant Bibi-Khanym Mosque, built by Timur for his favourite wife, and the colourful Siab bazaar.

13. Day 13Samarkand – TashkentBy train

    The Gur-Emir, Timur’s family mausoleum with its ribbed dome, the Ulugbek Observatory and its great 15th-century sextant, and the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, the street of tombs that is Samarkand’s most moving monument. Train to Tashkent for a short panoramic tour.

14. Day 14Departure from Tashkent

    Transfer to the airport for your international flight.

Hotels, transport & meals

Gallery

Experiences on this tour

• High-speed train across UzbekistanRide the Afrosiyob between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara.

Questions about this tour