Region · Uzbekistan · 3 tours
Uzbekistan's old cities grew rich on the Silk Road and spent the money in brick and tile. Bukhara built minarets, madrasas and mausoleums beside the bazaars that paid for them, and its covered trading domes still work their original trades.
In Samarkand, Timur marched the best craftsmen of half of Asia home to build a capital meant to make every visitor feel the size of his empire. Khiva, the last oasis before the desert and the last khanate to fall, was a nineteenth century boom city paid for by caravan tolls and a slave market, then frozen whole when the Soviets turned it into a museum.
Each tour takes about 130 to 150 minutes over 9 to 11 stops. Stop 1 of every tour is free to hear before you buy.
Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan
Bukhara got rich carrying the world's goods and spent the money on holiness — minarets, madrasas and mausoleums built beside the bazaars that paid for them.
11 stops · 3.1 km (1.9 mi) · about 150 min
Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan
Timur conquered half of Asia and marched its best craftsmen home to build his capital — a city meant to make every visitor feel the size of the empire.
9 stops · 3 km (1.9 mi) · about 140 min
Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan
Khiva was the last oasis before the desert and the last khanate to fall — a 19th-century boom city in medieval dress, paid for by caravan tolls and the largest slave market in Central Asia, then frozen whole when the Soviets turned it into a museum.
10 stops · 1.8 km (1.1 mi) · about 130 min