Beginning in the capital, Tashkent, we fly west to Nukus, known for its remarkable art museum, before continuing to the beautifully preserved walled city of Khiva. From Khiva, we will spend a day in the Kyzyl Kum Desert to visit settlements dating back to as early as the 1st century.
We journey on to the fabled city of Bukhara stopping at the border of Turkmenistan, the isolated country known for its authoritarian government, which is one of the least visited countries in the world. Bukhara has been a spiritual, intellectual and cultural centre of Islam from the 9th century but reached its zenith in the 16th century with its university, 360 mosques and 80 madrassas. It was famous as a wealthy centre of trade, for its slave market and its splendid architectural monuments.
Finally, we visit Samarkand, once considered amongst the most important and magnificent cities in the world during medieval times, which was conquered in turn by both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane the Great.