Silk Road Highlights: Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan — Self-Launched

Arrive at Ashgabat International Airport (ASB) and take a taxi to a central budget hotel (agree the fare first, ~$5-7 / £4-6). Ashgabat is oddly car-centric, so plan to walk the vast empty boulevards or flag cheap taxis. Do a self-guided loop of Independence Park and the Independence Monument, then spend the afternoon in the Turkmenistan National Museum of History (small entry fee, ~$5) which covers the Silk Road and Nisa. Evening: pick up a SIM and cash — Turkmenistan is effectively dollar/cash-driven for foreigners.

🚌Taxi from ASB airport (~£5). Walking + short taxis within the city.

🛏Budget city hotel (e.g. small central hotel near Magtymguly Ave), twin/double ~£30-40

• →Self-guided walk: Independence Park & Independence Monument
• →Turkmenistan National Museum of History (~$5)
• →Supermarket/money exchange run for cash and SIM

Morning taxi out to the UNESco-listed Nissa Fortress (Parthian ruins, ~20 min from the centre; taxi return ~$8-10). Swing by one of Ashgabat's Sunday-style markets — Tolkuchka bazaar is the big one but check it's open on your day (it's not every day). In the afternoon book a private half-day cooking class through your hotel or a local agency (ask at reception — expect ~$35-45pp) to make gutap (meat-filled flatbread), dograma and chai. If cooking classes are hard to arrange solo, substitute a cheap chaikhana lunch and a hammam visit.

🚌Shared/taxi to Nissa and market (~£7 total).

🛏Budget city hotel, twin/double ~£30-40

• →Nissa Fortress (entry ~$3)
• →Tolkuchka bazaar (check opening days)
• →Private cooking class — gutap & dograma (~£35-40)
• →Optional hammam

Take a public shared taxi or a hired car with driver east along the M37 through the Kaka Oasis (~4.5 hrs). Bring your passport — police checkpoints are normal and police on long intercity routes expect to see your registration slip. Stop en route at the crumbling Abiverd fortress ruins (near Kaka, small site; a taxi can wait ~30 min). Continue to Mary, Turkmenistan's fourth city, and check into a simple hotel. Mary is the gateway for Merv, so sort your driver for tomorrow this evening.

🚌Shared taxi/hired car Ashgabat→Mary (~$30-45pp shared or ~£70-90 for a private car, shared between two)

🛏Simple hotel in Mary (Hotel Mary or similar budget option), twin ~£30

• →Kaka Oasis drive-through
• →Abiverd Fortress ruins

Hire a taxi for the day (~$25-35 / £20-28) to Merv, 30 km east — the Seljuk capital that Genghis Khan flattened in 1221. There's no public transport and the site is huge (erect a Sultan Sanjar mausoleum, the Gyaur Kala walls, the ice house), so a hired car with a waiting driver is essential. Entry is a few dollars. Back in Mary, visit the Mary History Museum (~$3) which has good antiquities and an ethnography section. Early night — tomorrow is a long border day.

🚌Private day-hire taxi to Merv and back (~£25 total shared)

🛏Simple hotel in Mary, twin ~£30

• →Merv archaeological site (entry ~$3)
• →Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum & Gyaur Kala walls
• →Mary History Museum (~$3)

The trickiest travel day: hire a car from Mary to the Farab (Alat) border, cross into Uzbekistan, and pick up a shared taxi or minibus on the Uzbek side to Bukhara (~5-6 hrs total). Bring printed copies of your Turkmen visa, Uzbekistan e-visa and onward tickets; the crossing can take 1-2 hours. Arrive Bukhara, check into a family guesthouse inside or just outside the old town, then do a slow orientation walk of the Lyab-i Hauz pond and the Taqi Telpak Furushon (hat-makers' bazaar), whose trading domes are still packed with souvenirs.

🚌Shared/hired car Mary→Farab border (~$25/£20) + shared taxi/minibus Uzbek side to Bukhara (~£8-10)

🛏Bukhara guesthouse in old town, twin ~£20-25

• →Lyab-i Hauz pond
• →Taqi Telpak Furushon trading domes
• →Orientation walk along the old town
• →Chaikhana dinner

Bukhara is a walkable open-air museum. Buy a combined or individual tickets as you go: the Ark Citadel (~£2), the brutalist Soviet-era Emir's palace, Char Minar's four minarets, the Ismael Samani Mausoleum (Bukhara's oldest building, 10th c.), Chashma Ayub, the Kalyan Minaret and mosque, Abdul Aziz Khan Madrasah and Magoki-Attori Mosque. Hire a local guide for a 3-hour walking tour via GetYourGuide or a guide listed at your guesthouse (£15-25). Finish with plov and green tea at a chaikhana near Lyab-i Hauz.

🚌Walking; no transport needed inside the old town

🛏Bukhara guesthouse, twin ~£20-25

• →Ark Citadel (~£2)
• →Char Minar Mosque (~£1.50)
• →Ismael Samani Mausoleum (free/small)
• →Kalyan Minaret complex (~£3)
• →3-hr local guided walking tour (~£20)

Slow day. Independent travellers usually rave about the Sitorai Mohi-Xosa (summer palace of the last emir) ~4 km north, reachable by marshrutka or taxi for a couple of pounds, or catch a puppet show at the Bukhara Puppet Theatre. Wander the Jewish quarter and synagogues, check out the Bolo Hauz Mosque and the Chor Minor backstreets, and book your Bukhara→Khiva transport for tomorrow (shared taxi ~£12-15pp, ~6 hrs via the desert road, or the night bus).

🚌Optional local minibus/taxi to Sitorai Mohi-Xosa (~£3)

🛏Bukhara guesthouse, twin ~£20-25

• →Sitorai Mohi-Xosa emir's palace (~£2)
• →Bolo Hauz Mosque & Chor Minor
• →Bukhara Puppet Theatre (optional)
• →Book Khiva transport

Take a shared taxi or minibus west through the Kyzylkum desert (~6 hrs, ~£12-15pp) — the same road Explore!'s coach takes, but you'll stop where you like. Ask the driver for a short stop at the Amu Darya viewpoint and a roadside chaikhana for laghman. Arrive Khiva and stay in a family guesthouse inside the walled Ichan Kala; the old city is small enough to explore on foot at dusk without a ticket. Buy your Ichan Kala combined ticket (~£8-10, valid 2 days, covers most monuments) for tomorrow.

🚌Shared taxi/minibus Bukhara→Khiva (~£14pp, 6 hrs)

🛏Guesthouse inside Ichan Kala, twin ~£20-25

• →Kyzylkum desert drive
• →Ichan Kala at sunset
• →Buy Ichan Kala combined ticket (~£8)

Use your combined ticket around Ichan Kala: Kunya-Ark fortress (khan's court), Tash-Hauli Palace with its blue-tiled harem, the Juma Mosque's forest of carved wooden columns, and climb the Islam Khodja or Dzhuma minaret for the rooftop panorama (~£2). Clamp your ticket to a 2-day pass and break for plov. In the late afternoon head to Urgench airport or station for the overnight train — book a kupe (4-berth) on the Khiva/Urgench→Samarkand sleeper in advance via the Uzbek Railways site or a local agent (~£10-14).

🚌Walking in Khiva; shared taxi to Urgench (~£3); overnight sleeper train Urgench→Samarkand (~£12)

🛏Sleeper train, 4-berth kupe (~£12 included in transport)

• →Kunya-Ark fortress
• →Tash-Hauli Palace
• →Juma Mosque
• →Minaret climb (~£2)
• →Night in a sleeper train

Arrive Samarkand in the morning, drop your bag at a guesthouse near the Registan, and start with coffee. Hire a local guide for a half-day (~£20-25 via GetYourGuide) or use the excellent English signage and audio guides at the Registan (~£4 entry). Walk to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque (a short stroll from the Registan), then into the Gur Emir Mausoleum where Timur is buried (~£3). Tonight consider the optional Uzbek music and dance show at the Grand Hall, heavily recommended by Explore! travellers (~£10).

🚌Walk/metro from the station; short taxis (~£2-3)

🛏Samarkand guesthouse near Registan, twin ~£22-27

• →Registan Square (~£4)
• →Bibi-Khanym Mosque (~£3)
• →Gur Emir Mausoleum (~£3)
• →Optional Uzbek music & dance show (~£10)

Do a full east-Samarkand circuit: Shah-i-Zinda's avenue of tiled mausoleums is arguably the single best sight in Uzbekistan (~£2). Then the Ulug-Beg Observatory (~£2) with its extraordinary meridian arc, and the Afrosiyob archaeological site and museum if you're interested in the pre-Mongol city (~£3). Lunch at Siab Bazaar (grab non and dried fruit), then wander the old-town alleys. Book your Samarkand→Tashkent Afrosiyob high-speed train for tomorrow (~£8-10, 2h15m).

🚌Walking; short taxis (~£3 total)

🛏Samarkand guesthouse, twin ~£22-27

• →Shah-i-Zinda (~£2)
• →Ulug-Beg Observatory (~£2)
• →Afrosiyob site & museum (~£3)
• →Siab Bazaar
• →Book Afrosiyob train

Take the morning Afrosiyob from Samarkand to Tashkent (~2h15m, ~£9). Explore Tashkent's old city on foot: the Chorsu (Chor-Su) handicraft bazaar and its dome of spices, the Khast Imam complex with the world's oldest Quran, and Mustakillik (Independence) Square. Ride the Soviet-era Tashkent Metro (7p a ride) — the Kosmonavtlar and Alisher Navoi stations are stunning — and finish at the Earthquake Monument and Navoi Theatre exterior. Cheap, excellent dinner in a plov centre near Chorsu.

🚌Afrosiyob high-speed train Samarkand→Tashkent (~£9); metro (~70p)

🛏Budget hotel near Chorsu/Hotel Uzbekistan area, twin ~£25-30

• →Chorsu Bazaar
• →Khast Imam complex
• →Mustakillik Square
• →Tashkent Metro ride (~70p)
• →Earthquake Monument & Navoi Theatre exterior

Last morning for the optional Centre of Islamic Civilisation (a big new museum complex; ~£4) or a final wander around Chorsu and the Monument of Courage. Grab airport transport — the metro to the airport-side station plus a short walk, or a Yandex Go taxi (~£3-4) to Tashkent International — and fly out. Many travellers add an extra night in Tashkent because the last day feels rushed in the group version; a guesthouse costs ~£20, so it's cheap to build in.

🚌Yandex taxi to Tashkent airport (~£4) or metro (~70p)

🛏None (departure day) — optional extra night ~£20-25

• →Centre of Islamic Civilisation (~£4) or Chorsu return
• →Monument of Courage