Wonders of the Silk Road

Overall, this was an excellent trip and one of the best I have done with Explore over very many years. It was certainly helped by having a good, small group and two superb leaders (one in each country), who were extremely knowledgeable and very personable. The local guides were also outstanding. The sights were extraordinary (the Islamic architecture is simply breath-taking), the people were lovely and I did not mind the long drives (on spacious air conditioned coaches) or the 9.5 hour train journey. to Samarkand As expected, the trip’s pace was full-on. As a group we took advantage of the optional extras offered and I would recommend that others seriously consider those too, especially the spectacular Uzbek music and dance show at the Grand Hall in Samarkand. Hotel accommodation was better than I had expected and generally pretty good. If I have a criticism it is that the trip should perhaps be a day longer. It would have been nice to have spent more time in Khiva and the last day in Tashkent was too long, tiring and rushed. Thankfully, I had booked an extra day in the city, although others had early morning flights. While Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are very different, I much preferred the time we spent in the latter.

Uzbekistan more interesting than Turkmenistan. As well as our tour leader, local guides were very knowledgeable on the history etc. Favourite city was Khiva, could have done with an extra day there.