9 independent reviews for Silk Road & Caucasus tour
Reviews for Silk Road & Caucasus tour
Dianne Hiles review 12 Nov 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Uzbekistan2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
To read the itinerary very carefully. It's gruelling. Long days, some very rough roads, many border crossings - with some associated stress, changing guides and NO Downtime!3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Not especially4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
It delivered what it said it would. It was undoubtedly value for money. We had a number of people in their mid-70s on the Stans part of the trip and tbh, it was a bit too much for them. 8 countries in 31 days attracts a number of "Country Collectors". Personally, it would have be good to have more time exploring the fabulous outdoors Kyrgystan has on offer. Our time in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan was patently just so we step foot in those countries and with Turkmenistan now longer facilitating the (GRUELLING!) trips to the Darvaza Gas Crater, any attraction that country might have had is diminished. To get in touch with the romance and spectacle of the Silk Roads one really only needs to go to Uzbekistan. The Caucuses part of the trip was better paced in that we had four nights (generally) in the same hotel but certainly in Georgia there were still very long days.Angela Fairbank review 18 Oct 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The people and the photographic opportunities. The guides and drivers were all excellent.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Things could be improved such as providing bus meeting times prior to leaving the bus, and accurate meal- and toilet stop information. The trip includes a large number of long travelling days, substandard toilets, and long hours without toilet opportunities and meal opportunities. Most days were without regular meal times or had substandard food options (especially if you are a vegetarian), so I would suggest you bring quite a few healthy snacks in your luggage to supplement your protein, calcium, fruit and vegetable needs. I wish I had.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Well there was certainly a lot of plastic bottle use on our trips (up to four bottles of water per day from both the tour and the hotels), so that was an issue of great concern. However, all our guides and drivers were local people. I would also add that we could have been given many more opportunities to buy stuff to benefit local vendors and craftsmen. I felt such opportunities were skipped over as being of less importance to the tours everywhere we went.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
The ability to collect 8 new countries in a space of 31 days was what I was looking for and it was certainly what I got. Would I go back to any of these countries in the future? Probably not. I certainly learned a lot about their histories, and visited places I had never even heard of before, however, on the whole, we experienced information overload everywhere. And I tended to let the information that came in one ear leave via the other fairly quickly. Ergo, my information retention was compromised. I would suggest the guides giving us more information during the long bus rides when we were a captive audience, rather than at the visitation sites themselves, where we were often forced to listen to long explanations before being allowed to enter and commence photographing. As a result, several of us tended to wander away and missed what might have been information we should have had at these times and not in the bus before, such as bus return times, etc.Dave Hunt review 29 Jun 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The many tourist sites in Uzbekistan and the originality of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared for a lot of time spent travelling by minibus. Don't expect many options if you are vegetarian. The trip can be purchased in segments (the 5 Stans, the Caucasus, or the Caucasus without Azerbaijan). As a result, be prepared for your group to change a couple of times during the trip. Lots of history - some scenery, but not loads. Guides were local to each country which made sense from perspective of local languages and local knowledge. However, this does mean the tour as a whole has no leader and sometimes the handovers between one country and the next were poorly managed.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Difficult to pinpoint specifics, but on the whole felt comfortable on this.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very good.Richard Garcia review 14 Jun 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Getting to corners of the world I never dreamed of.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be ready for some strenuous days and some long days of touring and long bus drives over rough roads.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Somewhat.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
I’m grateful for the opportunity. Most guides were very good but some don’t speak loud and clear.Graham Cooper review 1 Jun 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Turkmenistan. That said the gas crater is actively being reduced by flaring off gas elsewhere and gas being piped out of the reservoir the result is a significant reduction in the scale of the ‘Gates of Hell’ and the beginning of the end of this attraction.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
The schedule is overly optimistic for a 5 Stan tour. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are reasonably well covered within a strict time frame. Kazakhstan is reduced to only Almaty and Tajikistan a limited overnighter. If you are ticking off countries it will not disappoint, however if you are into exploring countries in depth you will feel let down. Domestic flights to cover ground quickly also fall short due to scheduling constraints and an over ambitious itinerary seems rushed. Spend more time if you can on alternative offerings or visit less countries and enjoy more3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
The Stan’s are well travelled and increasingly more touristic with all the pluses and minuses that come with it.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
A lot of small issues and some missteps on the planning and execution of the itinerary made for an uneven tour. Credit to the tour operator who were responsive to concerns and communicated constantly with the tour group.David Greenwood review 14 Jun 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
All of it2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Worth going3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Wonderfulnaveen chanana review 29 Sep 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Visiting the beautiful sites2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Long process crossing borders and bumpy roads to be prepared for it.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Great tripmarcos romiti review 5 Oct 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The region is fantastic, but the tour operator left a lot to be desired2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Book with another agency.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
No.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Read the operator's response here:
Hi Marcos,
We are deeply sorry for the issues you encountered during your border crossing to Almaty. As we explained, your driver had emergency health issues meaning you had to wait an hour for another driver to arrive and we know that would have been a stressful situation. As we discussed in person at the end of your tour, please accept our offer of a £200 gift voucher both to you and your travel companion, Naveen, as compensation for this event. I hope this one evening did not overshadow the enjoyment of the rest of the tour for you.
Best,
Eleana Kyrkili review 29 Oct 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Get to know the local people and their lives of today, plus their dreams for tomorrow.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Besides visiting the impressive monuments, to take time to really “meet” the people.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes indeed, especially helping local economy.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Interesting although a small disappointment as all monuments are new (reconstructed copies of the old ones ) Missed the vibes of the past. A particularly clean and safe country.Holiday Reviews
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