11-Day Uzbekistan Religious Tour with Navruz and Aral Sea

• Meet your Uzbekistani tour guide and driver at the international airport of Tashkent for a transfer to the hotel.

• After breakfast, visit the Madrassa Kukeldash Complex Khast Imam, the religious heart of the city with the Barak Khan Madrassa, Kaffal Shashi Mausoleum, Mosque Djami and Chorsu Bazaar Market. In the stalls of this oriental Bazaar, you will find fresh fruits, amber-coloured dried fruits, toasted Uzbek bread, fresh-killed meat, and kazy (horse meat sausage). 

• Have lunch and then continue the tour in the modern part of Tashkent. 

• Go to the Museum of Applied Arts, Opera and Ballet named after A. Navoi, Independence Square and Amir Temur Square. 

• Head to the beautiful metro in Tashkent, where every station is decorated under various themes.

Have dinner and stay overnight at the hotel.

• After an early breakfast, transfer to the railway station to catch the high-speed Afrosiyob train to Samarkand. The train covers the 300 km distance in 2 hours and 20 minutes. 

• Reach Samarkand at 10:30 am and check into a hotel.

• Start your excursion at the magnificent Registan Square to visit the Ulugbek Madrassa, Sher Dor Madrassa, Tilla Kari Madrassa, and the Bibi-Khaym mosque. 

• Shop at the Siyob Bazaar, situated right next to the main gate to the city. 

• Then visit the spectacular Shahi Zinda Necropolis, "the tomb of the living king", and the Mausoleum Guri Emir.

Have dinner and stay overnight at the hotel.

• Explore the Tombstone of Saint Danyar after breakfast. 

• If time allows, explore the Samarkand Bukhara Silk Carpets factory, where you can observe the whole process of weaving silk carpets by hand.

• Head to the Ulugbek observatory with its astronomical instrument "sextant", which was the largest of the fifteenth century.

• After lunch, continue to the Museum of Winemaking at Khovrenko Winery and taste the exceptional Samarkand wines.

Have dinner and overnight stay at the hotel.

• After breakfast at the hotel, Visit Tersak, a village near Samarkand, to celebrate Navruz with a local family.

• Participate in the preparation of the feast, prepare dishes and try the Navruz meals with a local family. 

• Also, on this day of our tour, you will have the chance to witness one of the ancient Uzbek games Buzkachi (Ulak Kupkari).

• Return to Samarkand for dinner and overnight stay at the hotel.

• After breakfast, depart for Bukhara via Shakhrisabz. 

• Visit the historical centre of Shakhrisabz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and The Ak Sarai Palace

• Explore the complex of Hazrati Imam.

• See the blue dome of the Kok Gumbaz mosque.

• Have lunch in Shakhrisabz.

• Continue to Bukhara.

• Upon arrival, transfer to a hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

• Celebrate the Navruz holiday in Bukhara (Navruz, the spring "New Year" holiday, has been celebrated for at least 2,500 years, and perhaps for as long as 5,000 years). Navruz is celebrated each year on March 21, when the sun enters the sign of Aries on the astrological calendar. In the northern hemisphere, this date frequently coincides with the spring equinox, the day on which the number of daylight hours equals the number of nighttime hours.

• Head to the city and visit the Mausoleum of the Samanids, the Mausoleum of Tchashma Ayoub, Mosque Bolo Khaouz, and the Citadel Ark.

• After lunch, explore the Kalon Complex, which occupies a central part of the city of Bukhara with its impressive Kalon Minaret of the twelfth century and the vibrant Poi-Kalyan Complex.

• Have dinner at Medrese Nadir Devan Begi with a folklore show.

Stay Overnight in Bukhara.

• Take the mesmerising road through the desert to Khiva.

• Arrive in Khiva and transfer to a hotel.

• Relax for the rest of the day and go for a refreshing walk during the night.

Have dinner and stay overnight in the hotel.

• After breakfast, head to Itchan Kala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Enter from the West Gate Ata Darvaza and thoroughly explore the site. You may have at a local bazaar nearby.

Have dinner and stay overnight at the hotel.

• After breakfast, depart for Nukus (150 km).

• On the way to Nukus, stop at the impressive Ayaz Kala and Tuprok Kala, a complex which dates back to the 6th and 7th centuries.

• Upon arrival in Nukus, check-in and have lunch.

• Visit the Savitsky Karakalpakstan Art Museum. The museum hosts the world's second-largest collection of Russian avant-garde art and exposition of Karakalpak applied arts items.

Have dinner and stay overnight at the hotel.

• Drive to the former fishers' town of Muynak (200 km, 3 hours), which used to be situated on the shores of the Aral Sea.

• On the way, stop at the archaeological complex Mizdakhan.

• Have lunch at a local guesthouse.

• In Muynak, head to the now-abandoned port to witness the ships sinking in the sand also called the Cemetery of Ships. 

• Then visit the Local History Museum with art exhibits of the Aral Sea history. 

• In the afternoon, return to Nukus.

• Transfer to the domestic airport of Nukus city to board the Nukus - Tashkent flight. 

• Arrive in Tashkent and transfer to a hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

• Transfer to Tashkent International Airport to board your return flight.