Tour Highlights

• Encounter an exotic mélange of culture and religion, art and architecture, on this tour of Central Asia’s ancient Silk Road connecting East and West.
• Get inspired by tales of trade and treasure as you are embraced by the welcoming people of Central Asia.
• Discover Kyrgyzstan’s delightful capital, Bishkek, with a panoramic tour of this former Soviet republic’s largest city.
• Travel to the village of Burana to see its 11th-century tower and ancient “balbal” stone statues.
• Enjoy lunch in the home of a Kyrgyz family and experience traditional Kyrgyz culture at a yurt-making demonstration.
• In Tamgaly Gorge, admire the Tamgaly Petroglyphs, a UNESCO site dating to the Bronze Age.
• Spend a day touring Russian-accented Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, ascending a nearby mountain for panoramic views and attending a falconry demonstration.
• Explore Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, home of one of the world’s oldest surviving Qurans as well as vast Chorsu Bazaar.
• Tour Khiva’s “inner city,” another UNESCO site, which reveals this Uzbek city’s storied past as a major Silk Road trading post.
• Journey through the desert to a lakeside yurt camp for a traditional barbecue dinner and an Uzbek folkloric performance.
• In ancient Bukhara, watch silk weavers at work and visit a Sufi miniaturist’s home to learn about his craft and savor a traditional plov lunch.
• Visit one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Central Asian Muslims: the Memorial Complex of Naqshband, housing the mausoleum of the 14th-century Sufi theologian.
• Set out for a ceramics workshop in a village where potters have been crafting pottery using traditional methods for more than a century.
• Experience another legendary Silk Road stop, Samarkand, with its vast Registan Square and the magnificent 15th-century Bibi-Khanym mosque.
• At this cultural crossroads visit the Gur Emir Mausoleum, Tamerlane’s tomb, and the Afrasiyab Museum with its ancient artifacts.
• Returning to the Uzbek capital, call on the studio of renowned ceramicist Akbar Rakhimov and watch the master at work.

• Elimination of Penalty on Tour Deposits (2023) As a final initiative, Odysseys Unlimited has decided to waive the $200 per person penalty associated with tour deposits. Effective immediately, each guest’s $500 per person deposit will be fully refundable up until the final payment due date: 95 days prior to tour departure.
• For Information about Odysseys Unlimited’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Protocols, please check out our attached document listed under the Additional Resources.