Uzbekistan small group tour, Uzbekistan odyssey

Spend two weeks exploring the wild desert landscapes and ancient cities of Uzbekistan, along with a small group of like minded travellers and expert guides.
Tashkent Nukus Khiva Bukhara Kizil Kum Desert Nurata Samarkand Kokand Margilan
Price
£1995excluding flights
Duration
11 Days
Type
Small group
Reviews
More info
This is the per person group tour price, based on 2 sharing.
The price is subject to change with exchange rate and flight cost fluctuations.
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Description of Uzbekistan small group tour, Uzbekistan odyssey

This Uzbekistan small group tour is a veritable odyssey, taking you to a country that’s the biggest tourist draw in Central Asia, and with good reason. A major part of the legendary Silk Road, Uzbekistan in rich in ancient architecture; but its natural landscapes are equally as impressive, with vast swathes of desert, soaring mountains and a mysterious inland lake known as the Aral Sea.

Travelling with a small group of fellow adventurers, as well as a driver and expert English-speaking guides, you’ll get to visit some of the country’s top highlights, including the breathtaking architecture of UNESCO-listed Samarkand, the elegant walled desert city of Khiva and Bhukara, home to hundreds of ancient and brilliantly preserved mosques, bazaars and caravanserais. You’ll also get the chance to take part in craft workshops, such as traditional silk weaving or woodwork, alongside talented local artisans.

Price information

£1995excluding flights
This is the per person group tour price, based on 2 sharing.
The price is subject to change with exchange rate and flight cost fluctuations.
Make enquiry

Check dates, prices & availability

Travel guides

Uzbekistan
Traversed by traders selling silks and spices for centuries, the Silk Road, and the historical cities along its spidering tributaries, shared the pric...
Asia
Asia is massive: a whopping great sprawl of a continent with some 4.4 billion people living across it – that’s more than the population of every other...

Reviews

2 Reviews of Uzbekistan small group tour, Uzbekistan odyssey

5 out of 5 stars
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Reviewed on 07 Oct 2019 by

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The Ubek people - so friendly - it was hard not to accept having photos taken with them. Also the architecture, increasing in grandeur from Khiva to Bukhara to Samarkand - breathtaking.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Don't go for the food... (although once we started to choose our own restaurants over the guide's recommendations the food improved greatly - but also became less authentic). Be prepared for A LOT of travel. Based on an 8 hour sightseeing day, we estimated to have spent 50% of our time (and 3000km) on trains, planes, minibuses and cars - which got pretty exhausting by the end of the 2 weeks...

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?


Our group certainly tried to use local companies and brands rather than international ones - and the hotels felt like locally run establishments rather than international chains which was good. It was also good to get the opportunities to buy directly from the local producers rather than 'tourist shops'. I bought pottery, fabric and metalwork items directly from the craftsman we visited.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


Excellent - I wouldn't remove anything from the itinerary but 12 days didn't feel long enough to cover what we covered. A couple of 'rest days' would have been appreciated - and the 10 hour round trip to the Fergana Valley at the end, whilst an interesting visit, didn't include anything materially different to what we'd seen already and felt like a long journey to make at the end of an already packed schedule.

Reviewed on 27 Sep 2019 by

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


My most memorable part of the holiday was emerging from our taxi and seeing Registan Square in Samarkand sparkling in the afternoon sunshine. It was absolutely breathtaking.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Just to relax and soak up everything as it is a full-on itinerary.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?


I think local people benefitted from tourists buying local produce.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


I had never been on an organised group holiday before and I was a little apprehensive before I went but I needn't have worried as everything was so well organised and hotels, transport, restaurants and places we visited were amazing. I would definitely recommend a holiday to Uzbekistan for the history, the wonderful architecture and the people of Uzbekistan are so happy and kind.

Responsible Travel

As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) holiday so that you can travel knowing it will help support the places and people that you visit, and the planet. Read how below.

Planet

Being a tour with a strong cultural heritage theme, our emphasis is on historic Silk Road buildings and their preservation in perpetuity. By running a tour of this nature, in our small way we help to safeguard the future of Uzbekistan's invaluable heritage sites by both ensuring continued interest in these patrimonial sites, and by controlling the footfall by promoting low impact tourism with our preference for small-group travel. We support UNESCO's aims by inculcating as many UNESCO world heritage sites into our itineraries. To illustrate this point, we chose Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand as three must-see cities due to their protected status as UNESCO sites. Similarly, our excursions to the UNESCO-protected silk-weaving workshop in Khiva demonstrates our willingness to see UNESCO patrimony as something living and dynamic, which props up local community and keeps ancient craftsmanship from falling into disrepair.

Although this is primarily a heritage tour, we incorporate wildlife conservation into our itinerary by visiting a breeding centre for the endangered goitered gazelle. As well as visibly supporting their aims to reintroduce the jeyran - an endemic keystone species - by offering a steady stream of visitors, we also help, in our own small but not insignificant way, to finance to running of this centre. What's more, our visits there highlight the plight of this little-known species.

Our clients are strongly encouraged to come equipped with a re-usable water filtration system, or, failing that, their own canteen in which to refill water- this is an easy way to save plastic waste and is detailed in our ‘What to bring’ trip notes for all trips to all destinations. Your guide will remind you where and when you can fill up your re-usable water bottle.

People

As regular travellers, one thing that never ceases to amaze and inspire us is the kindness and generosity of local people, and we firmly believe that it is them that make these places special should and that they should benefit from our visit. For that reason, we use local guides who are offered fair working conditions and pay, and as a priority, stay in local accommodation and visit local shops, bars and eateries in order to have the maximum possible economic benefit on the local communities our travellers visit.

Community support and awareness is at the fulcrum of what we do. This itinerary includes a number of stops in both rural and urban areas where interaction with local community members forms the main activity. For instance, in the Nurata Mountains we place our clients with a local family, wherein their break bread together, and learn from our local family about rural ways. In Khiva, we dine with a local family, this deepening our authentic cultural awareness. Further to our promotion of local crafts & culture, our balanced itinerary lets us actively participate in one of Uzbekistan's most ancient and celebrated crafts: silk carpet weaving. Playing a big part in national life, this cottage industry is both a source of employment and cultural pride to Uzbeks. Our interaction with silk weavers helps preserve their arcane knowledge, as well as sustaining a living in a traditional cottage industry.

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