TWO INTERSECTIONS OF THE CITY-SAMARKAND AND BUKHARA ON THE TEA ROAD
Travel itinerary: Tashkent-Samarkand-Panjikent-Samarkand-Bukhara-Tashkent
Duration: 5 days / 4 nights
Placement: double hotel accommodation
Hotel: 3* or 4*
Tour Itinerary
Day 1Tashkent
Upon arrival at Tashkent International Airport, your driver will meet you and take you to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, transfer to the hotel. Check-in at the hotel.
Overnight at the hotel. Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and a megacity with a population of more than 2.5 million people. The city is a grid of straight, wide streets and avenues interspersed with many green areas (parks, squares, gardens) and fountains.
Day 2 Tashkent-Samarkand
After breakfast, transfer to the railway station at 07: 30 and depart for Samarkand by fast train at 08: 30, arriving at 10: 20. Upon arrival in Samarkand, your guide and driver will meet you and begin your Samarkand city tour. Visit the Gur-Emir mausoleum - the cemetery of Tamerlane and Timurids, the magnificent Registan Square with three madrasas, Ulugbek madrasah, Sher Dor madrasah and Tillya Kari madrasah. After visiting the giant Bibi Khanum Mosque, we will visit the Siyaab Bazaar. After lunch, visit Ulugbek Observatory, Shahi Zinda necropolis, where you can visit the tomb of Qusam ibn Abbas. Dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight in Samarkand.
Day 3Samarkan-Panjikent-Samarkand
Meeting with the driver at the hotel in Samarkand.
09: 00 Transfer to the Uzbek-Tajik border "Dzharteppa" (~50 km, 30 min).
Arrival via the Uzbek-Tajik border. Pass the border. Meeting with Tajik employees and transfer to Punjikent.
Arrival and start of the excursion program in Panjikent.
- Rudaki Museum – since Penjikent is the birthplace of Abu Abdullah Rudaki, who is considered by many to be the father of Persian poetry. Before lunch, we will visit the local bazaar and mosque.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
- Ancient Panjikent-ruins of an old Sughd city founded in the 5th century and abandoned by the Arabs in the 8th century. The excavated ruins show the foundations of houses, a citadel with a pair of Zoroastrian fire temples, and a city bazaar.
- Sarazm ruins — one of the oldest settlements in Central Asia with a 5500-year-old civilization. In 2010, Sarazm was added to the UNESCO Human Heritage List. In the evening, transfer back to the Tajik-Uzbek border pass. Cross the border with Uzbekistan and meet the driver. Transfer to Samarkand.
Arrival at the hotel.
Day 4 Samarkand-Bukhara
Breakfast at the hotel (7: 00). After breakfast, transfer to the railway station to catch a high-speed train to Bukhara (10:32 – 12:15). Arrival in Bukhara. Transfer to the hotel and check-in. Lunch time. Visit the old sights of Bukhara, such as Chor Minor, Nodir Divanbegi madrasah, Lyabi-Hauz, Kokaldash madrasah, Ulughabek madrasah, Poi Kalon complex. It's time for dinner. Overnight in Bukhara.
Day 5Bukhara-Tashkent
Breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast visit. Take a full-day city tour, including the Ismael Samani Mausoleum, Chashmai Ayub mausoleums, Abdullah Khan Madrasah and the local bazaar. We will see the Bolo-Hauz Mosque, the official place of worship of the emirs, built in 1718 and located next to the door of the Ark, the city center, the official residence of the rulers of Bukhara. Lunch at a local restaurant.
You will be taken to the train station to catch the train to Tashkent (14: 58-19: 17).
Dinner and transfer to Tashkent International Airport for meeting on the return flight. End of the tour.
