Ready-made routes

🕌 Central Asia Silk Road: Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan

An extraordinary route, culturally and naturally, joining the Silk Road's blue-domed cities with Kyrgyz mountain nomad life. Turkic languages make communication easy.

18Days
5Stops
$40Per day
$720On the ground

Visa status for this route

The itinerary below is the same for everyone. What changes is how your passport enters these countries.

Pick your passport to see your visa status

The route, night by night (14 nights)

  1. 01

    Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

    3 nights

    Registan Square, Shah-i-Zinda, Timur's mausoleum. The heart of the Silk Road.

  2. 02

    Bukhara (Uzbekistan)

    2 nights

    A living-museum old town, madrasas, caravanserais.

  3. 03

    Tashkent (Uzbekistan)

    2 nights

    Metro stations, the bazaar, a Soviet-modern blend of a capital.

  4. 04

    Bishkek & Ala-Archa (Kyrgyzstan)

    3 nights

    The capital + national park mountain hiking.

  5. 05

    Song-Köl / Issyk-Köl (Kyrgyzstan)

    4 nights

    Yurt stays on the highland, horse riding, a mountain lake. The route's peak.

Best season

April–June, September (summer for the Kyrgyz highlands)

Getting around

High-speed train in Uzbekistan (Afrosiyob), shared taxi/marshrutka in Kyrgyzstan.

What to know before you go

  • —There is no electricity/internet on the Kyrgyz highlands (Song-Köl); bring cash and a powerbank.
  • —Buy Uzbek train tickets a few days ahead; popular lines fill up.
  • —Russian is the regional lingua franca; a few words of Uzbek or Kyrgyz open doors.

Important: this content is general information

Visa rules can change without notice. Always confirm your situation with an official source before you travel: Also check with the embassy or consulate of your destination country in your own country. The information on this page is guidance, not legal advice.