10-Day Uzbekistan Navruz Tour from Tashkent with Samarkand to Khiva

• Meet the guide and driver at the airport and get transferred to the hotel.

• Arrive at the hotel and have breakfast

• Visit Tashkent, the city that was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1966. 

• Explore 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. On counters of this oriental bazaar, find fresh fruits, amber-coloured dried fruits, toasted Uzbek bread, fresh-killed meat, kazy (horse meat sausage), and many others.

• Continue to tour the modern part of Tashkent which is home to a panoramic view.

• Embark on the Museum of Applied Arts, Opera and Ballet theatre named after the great Uzbek poet A. Navoi, Independence Square, Amir Temur Square. The tour ends with a trip to the beautiful metro, where every station is decorated according to various themes.

• Enjoy some leisure time before dinner.

Overnight stay at the hotel in Tashkent.

• Drive to Samarkand (300 km). Upon arrival in Samarkand, check in to the hotel and have lunch.  

• Visit the magnificent Registan Square which is one of the most extraordinary monuments of Central Asia. 

• Explore Ulugbek Madrassa, Sher Dor Madrassa and Tilla Kari Madrassa. Also, go to the giant mosque Bibi Khanum built by Timur for his favourite wife.

• Make way to the Siyob Bazaar, the city’s biggest and the most ancient market situated right next to the main gate to the city. Find pyramids of melons, bags with walnuts, seedless raisins and dried apricots, grapes, alluring piles of figs and a flatbread row that offers seventeen kinds of brown Samarkand flatbread.

• Have dinner and then enjoy the free time.

Overnight stay in Samarkand.

• Visit the spectacular Shahi Zinda Necropolis "the tomb of the living king".

• Go to the Afrosiab Museum with its old fresco of the seventh century.

• Explore the Ulugbek observatory with its astronomical instrument "sextant" and the mausoleum Guri Emir.

• Walk through the complex of Imam Al Bukhari, located twelve kilometers from Samarkand. 

• Proceed to the complex of Khodja Akhrar, the madrassa of Devonbeghi and the mosque of Akhrar.

• Have dinner and overnight stay in Samarkand.

• Depart for the Tersak village near Samarkand to celebrate Navruz (Iranian New Year) with a local family. Help with the preparation of the feast and try different Navruz meals made by the family while discovering their customs and way of life. Also, enjoy an amazing view of the mountains covered with snow.

• Attend one of the ancient Uzbek games Buzkachi (Ulak Kupkari) in the village in which the rider has to raise "Ulak" – specially treated goat carcass from the ground, gallop with it in a circle, protecting it from other riders till he goals. 

• Return to Samarkand and have dinner at the hotel

• Depart to Bukhara via Shakhrisabz. 

• Visit the historical monuments like Shakhrisabz, the “Green City” declared as a masterpiece of world heritage in the year 2000 by UNESCO. Also, see the Sarai Palace, built at the end of the 14th century.

• Explore the Mausoleum of Djakhonghir, a mosque called Matchiti Hazrati Imam complex, Darul Tilovat - "house of meditation, Kuk Gumbaz known as the blue dome and the mausoleum of Gumbazi Saydan.

• Have lunch in Shakhrisabz.

• Continue the journey to Bukhara.

• Have Dinner and stay overnight in Bukhara.

• Proceed to celebrate the Navruz holiday in Bukhara. Navruz is the spring new year that has been celebrated for the past 2,500 years and mostly associated with the Zoroastrian religion.

• Explore the mausoleum of the Samanids and Tchashma Ayoub. See the mosque of Bolo Khaouz, the Citadel Ark which used to be the official residence of the rulers of Bukhara.

• Continue to Kalon Complex. Go to Poi-Kalyan Complex which has Minaret of Kalyan (XII), Medrese of Mir-Arab (XVI), Kalyan Mosque (XV), the Old Bazaar and find Taki Telpakfurushon (hatters), Taki Sarrafon (currency exchange), the Jews of Bukhara. 

• Visit madrassa of Ulugbek, madrassa of Abdulaziz, Chor Minar, the complex of Lyabi Khauz (XVI-XVII) with Khanaka, madrassa N. Devon Beghi, madrassa and Kukeldash.

• Have dinner at Medrese Nadir Devan Begi and enjoy a folklore show and eat Navruz dishes like Sumalak and Kuk Barak.

• Stay overnight in Bukhara.
  

• Leave for Khiva after breakfast. En-route, see the desert Kyzyl Kum characterised by its red sand and the road that skirts the edge of the river the Amu Darya; a view that has unusual beauty.

• Have lunch and take pictures on the way.

• Arrive in Khiva and stay overnight.
  

• Visit Ichan Kala, the old town which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

• Start the excursion from the West Gate Ata Darvaza and visit the statue of the great scholar Al-Khorezmi (Algorithme), the founder of algebra.

• Stroll through the complex of Muhammed Aminkhan (XIX s), Madrassa Aiminkhan and Kalta Minor Minaret, the Fortress of Kunya Ark which used to be the residence of local rulers.

• End the day by going to the summer palace of Nurullabay which is famous for its strange architecture.

• Have dinner and stay overnight in Khiva.
  

• After breakfast, depart for Nukus (220 km) to see the remains of the ancient civilization of “Oxus".

• Proceed to visit the fortresses of Toprakkala (I century), Ayazakala and Chilpikala (ancient Zoroastrian tower of silence).

• Have lunch at Janbaz Kala in Yurtas.

• Transfer to Nukus and check in to the hotel.

• Enjoy a visit to the Museum Igor Savitskiy.  

• Have dinner and stay overnight in Nukus.

• After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight to Tashkent.

• Upon arrival enjoy sightseeing in Tashkent, the Garden City.

• After sightseeing, depending upon the flight, have dinner and stay in the hotel before getting transferred to the airport.