The Silk Road of Uzbekistan

Explore is fabulous. Great value, great everything. Easy to book, lovely staff and tour leaders.

Nearly everything was done to a high standard. The criticisms I had amount to: 1. One hotel did not offer tea/coffee/kettle in the room 2. English language rolling news channels not available in every hotel 3. Local guides need to speak slower, pay attention to pronunciation and cut back just a little on factual info presented 4. Overnight stay in Yurt should be cut from the schedule to leave more time in Samarkand or Tashkent. The Yurt stay seemed staged and inauthentic, sleeping quarters were noisy and food was basic. No coffee was offered.

Excellent trip but very full on! We were a bit unlucky with the temperatures as we had four days at 40 deg! Excellent location of hotels - good to be close to old cities. Not sure about the stay in the yurt though - a longish drive and a bit 'hackneyed tourist experience'. Could omit this and spend longer in one of the main towns? As ever, good tips from Explore when planning the trip - money, clothing etc.

A really well thought out tour. You see all the major sights. The local tour guides are impressive. Hotel accommodation varied but always as described. Felt safe. Felt like you were in good hands. The country is welcoming, fascinating, at one moment a city will look European, then North African, then unique. Well worth a visit. (I’d like to have spent longer in Tashkent, so much to see. Didn’t enjoy yurt night, but just not my thing)

The trip was excellent. The itinerary was well-balanced between organised activity and free time to explore. The places we visited were steeped in history and some of the sights were truly spectacular. Oue trip leader and the local guides were very knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly.

This holiday was rated “full on” and it was. Not a moment was wasted! Tashkent, Khiva, Bukara and Samarkand were all amazing. Staying in a Madrasa and in a Yurt added to the authenticity and we took the extra trip to the desert castles which was well worth it. Also the silk paper making centre was interesting. Uzbekistan is a welcoming country - very clean with no litter and we were impressed with the flowers planted along grass verges for miles.

Our Tour guide, Maftuna, was excellent. She was Knowledgeable, accommodating, flexible,, friendly and generous. Trip well organised with freedom and optional activities

Excellent trip. Busy with very good guides but with some days to explore the wonderful cities on our own. Perfect for us. The yurt was too basic for us oldies!!

The tour was a great experience, very knowledgeable guides and accommodation was all great apart from the yurt stay that was very basic

This is a fascinating part of the world which was and is great fun to learn about. The initial three plane journeys were tough but after that the itinerary worked well and opened up a new world with the help of our brilliant guide - who was also determined to fill in the health and safety which Uzbekistan is fairly laid back about! Our hotels were largely very well placed and independent, helping to build up an idea of the local culture. We found the people to be very friendly and hospitable despite the fact that English is not necessarily even their third language. Twice we were dragged into group photographs by older Uzbeks in traditional dress. Explore travelers as tourist sights themselves! The only negative i would say was the night in the yurt which sounded exotic but wasn't. I find sleeping on a barely padded wooden bed very difficult and the joyful but rather selfish Polish contingent who took over the camp did not add to our enjoyment. In fact, I would opt to miss this altogether (although I quite enjoyed the chance to ride a Bactrian camel for a change) and maybe visit the lake we saw from a distance or another site which provided variety. Altogether though a great holiday, well organised and spent with like-minded people.

This was a fascinating glimpse into Uzbekistan culture and history. The pace of the trip is full on as described in the trip notes: a lot of physical distance covered with many early morning starts, particularly on day 2. The local guides we had in the various locations were all very knowledgeable and keen to share their cities with us. Our tour guide was very well organised and informative and solicitous of our welfare. The mosques, madrasahs and mausoleums we visited were a feast of blue tiles and turquoise minarets. Visits to authentic bazaars were a highlight of the trip as was a spontaneous gathering of our group with a much larger group of Uzbek visitors in Bukhara. We found Uzbekistan to be a very friendly and safe environment. However note of warning to vegetarians; I found it very difficult to eat a balanced diet here, with some vegetarian soups for example simply having the meat removed. The best meal of the day was usually breakfast. The one really disappointing event on the trip was the visit to the desert Yurt camp. It is not a special unique experience in the way suggested by the trip notes. The yurts themselves are very shabby, many covered in plastic or tarpaulin, with ill fitting doors. The quiet contemplative night under the stars we expected was accompanied by large groups of other tourists dancing the night away to a very loud disco soundtrack. It is certainly not an authentic camp but as a previous reviewer notes ‘a tourist trap’. I would recommend Uzbekistan as a place to visit but not on a tour that includes a Yurt visit.

This was my second trip with Explore, and like the first was excellent overall but with a few observations I would like to make. The night at the yurt camp was very disappointing. I was not expecting to have the place to myself but the atmosphere was ruined by the addition - somewhat bizarrely - of a disco and another tour group who sang loud songs long after we had all gone to bed. Secondly, Explore's advice to bring mainly US Dollars seems over cautious. There were plenty of atm's in Samarkand and Bukhara where you can take out local currency (and you need a lot of it) but less banks to change money over. That said the tour itself fulfilled a dream of visiting Samarkand. The accommodation and itinerary were good with enough down time to explore or go back to places we had visited. The people are very friendly, happy to haggle a bit and enjoy having their photos taken with visitors from foreign countries! I loved it!