Registan Special Train Journey from Tashkent via Dushanbe to Almaty: The Legendary Silk Road from West to East (2027/2028)

starting at 4.430 €

(If you booked without flights, your trip begins on Day 2)

Early in the morning, you’ll arrive in Tashkent, where a transfer to your comfortable hotel will be waiting for you. After a relaxing morning, you’ll meet your tour guides and fellow travelers at noon. Your trip gets off to an impressive start with a city tour that introduces you to highlights such as the Kukeldash Madrasah and the Navoi and Amir Timur monuments. (FA)

After breakfast, you’ll have the morning free. Alternatively, you can join an excursion to the Chimgan Mountains. After lunch, you’ll have a little more time for sightseeing. Later that afternoon, you’ll check into your compartment on the Orient Silk Road Express in Tashkent. Your journey along the legendary Silk Road begins! A welcome drink and a short presentation await you on board. (FMA)

Today you’ll visit the oasis of Khiva—a fairy tale from *One Thousand and One Nights* brought to life in stone. Standing before the imposing city walls with their gates and bastions made of mud bricks, you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported to another world. Around the Kalta Minor Minaret, life still pulsates today just as it did in ancient times. On a walking tour, you can take in all the sights: palaces, mosques, minarets, mausoleums, and madrasas form one of the best-preserved ensembles of medieval Oriental urban architecture. You will spend the night on board. (FMA)

Located in the heart of the Kyzylkum Desert, Bukhara boasts around a thousand historical monuments that serve as a reminder of the heyday of the Great Silk Road. In the old town, you’ll see, among other things, the nearly 50-meter-high Kaljan Minaret and the Labi-Hauz complex by the pond. In front of the monument to Nasreddin, an Oriental version of Till Eulenspiegel, you’ll listen to some of his tall tales and legends. In the courtyard of a madrasah, you’ll enjoy a show featuring music, local dances, and a presentation of colorful national costumes. You’ll spend the night in a mid-range hotel in Bukhara. (FMA)

If you have booked today’s excursion package, you will experience Bukhara as part of a full-day sightseeing tour that includes lunch. The city presents itself as a vast, unique, and authentic architectural museum that has preserved its ancient Oriental character. In the morning, we’ll take you to the magnificent Mire-e-Arab Madrasah and to Central Asia’s most valuable architectural monument, the Samanid Mausoleum. Afterward, you’ll take a tour of the mighty Ark Fortress, a city within a city that was once the seat of government for the rulers of Bukhara. You’ll spend the night on board tonight. (B)

You traveled through the mountains overnight. During an artistic performance, you will witness the unique traditions of a region that seems to have been left behind by time. Afterward, you will head to Shahrisab, the birthplace of Tamerlane. In the evening, you will depart for Dushanbe on your special train. (FMA)

After arriving in Dushanbe in the morning, you’ll take a sightseeing tour to discover the many attractions of the Tajik capital. For a chance to relax in a green setting, head to one of the city’s many parks: take a break in the idyllic Rudaki Park. In the late afternoon, you’ll return to your special train and set off for Samarkand. (FMA)

Today you’ll explore the sights of this historic city, which under Tamerlane was considered the most beautiful and important city in the world: the burial city of Shah-e-Sende (a name that, paradoxically, means “the living ruler” in Persian), the Afrosiab archaeological sites with a guided museum tour, and Registan Square—undoubtedly the most impressive architectural complex in Central Asia. The Registan is surrounded by three imposing madrasas. The huge ceremonial portals are particularly impressive in terms of their ornamentation and colors. In the background, the domes of the mosques glisten like something out of an Oriental fairy tale. In 1917, at this historic site, the women of Uzbekistan burned their face veils and set out on the path to a new era. Here, in the legendary Samarkand, you will stay for the next two nights at a mid-range hotel. (FMA)

Today you have free time. If you’ve booked the excursion package, you’ll visit a silk carpet workshop and an Uzbek artisan family that makes paper from mulberry bark; you’ll also see the Ulug Beg Observatory and the ruins of the Bibi Khanum Mosque. You’ll tour the interior of the palace-like Gur-e Amir Mausoleum. It houses the tomb of Tamerlane, who, as a renowned builder, turned his capital into a paradise, but who also went down in history—and in many poems—as a feared conqueror; the most famous of these was written by Edgar Allan Poe. (FA)

After breakfast, your special train will set off toward Kyrgyzstan. Enjoy a relaxing day on the Orient Silk Road Express and listen to the fascinating presentations on board. (FMA)

After breakfast on board, you’ll arrive in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and discover its many sights on a sightseeing tour. With about 100 m² of green space per resident, Bishkek is one of the greenest cities in the world! And, of course, Ala-Archa National Park is also part of the itinerary. Tonight you’ll stay in Bishkek at the Komfort Hotel. (FMA)

After breakfast, your special train will set off for the breathtaking Lake Issyk-Kul. A visit to the Center for Nomadic Culture will give you a deeper understanding of nomadic culture before you have time for a walk along Lake Issyk-Kul. After a boat tour on the lake, you’ll return to your train, which will then head toward Almaty. (FMA)

After lunch, you’ll arrive in Almaty, the city whose Kazakh name means “Father of Apples,” as the very first apple trees on Earth grew here thousands of years ago. On a city tour, you’ll admire the Russian Orthodox wooden cathedral, Central Park, the Wedding Palace, the circus, and the Central Mosque. At your farewell dinner in a traditional yurt restaurant, you can chat once more with your fellow travelers about all the fairy tales that were at the heart of your journey, before spending one last short night at the hotel. (FMA)

Flight to Frankfurt – The end of a fabulous trip! (If you booked without flights, your trip ends on Day 14)