Silk Road to the Aral Sea: Uzbekistan in Depth

It was the lure of the Silk Road cities—Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva—that first piqued my interest in Uzbekistan. Names that ring with echoes of caravans, empires, and intrigue. But as I looked closer, it became clear that our Silk Road to the Aral Sea, Uzbekistan in Depth tour would offer far more than grand mosques and tiled minarets. This tour offers a rare chance to dive beneath the surface of a country still relatively untouched by mass tourism, to explore remote villages, desolate deserts, and the haunting remains of one of the world’s great environmental disasters. For anyone with a curiosity for culture, history, and complex landscapes—both natural and human-made - this tour of Uzbekistan is a trip that richly rewards.

Tashkent, the capital

You start in Tashkent, a city often overlooked in favour of its more glamorous Silk Road siblings - but that would be a mistake. There’s something captivating about Tashkent’s Soviet-era cityscape - leafy boulevards punctuated by stern, modernist monuments, a legacy of the 1966 earthquake that flattened much of the old city. The fusion of past and present is tangible here. Traditional markets bustle next to metro stations that look like futurist movie sets. And just as the contrasts begin to feel comfortable, you’re whisked away by high-speed train to one of the most legendary stops along the Silk Road: Samarkand.

Samarkand, Jewel of the Silk Road

Even if you’ve seen photos of Registan Square, nothing quite prepares you for the grandeur of standing in it. The turquoise domes, the intricate mosaics, the symmetry—it’s a marvel of human achievement. But beyond its architectural showpieces, Samarkand offers deeper insights. A visit to Ulugbek’s observatory reveals the intellectual richness of a city that once rivalled the likes of Baghdad and Cairo. Then there’s the joy of the bazaar, still very much a working marketplace, and the chance to witness traditional crafts in action—like paper-making from mulberry bark and ceramics painted by hand in quiet village workshops.

Village life

But this trip is about contrasts, and from Samarkand you head away from grandeur into the earthy authenticity of the Nurata Mountains. In the village of Sentyab, nestled in a green valley, life slows to a different rhythm. Here, in a family-run homestay, you cook dinner with your hosts and fall asleep to the sounds of river and wind. The following morning brings a walk through the mountains to ruined villages where flat stone walls mark the ghosts of generations past. There’s something humbling about standing amid such history without a single other tourist in sight.

Into the desert

From the lush to the stark, the journey moves on into the Kyzylkum Desert. Your accommodation for the night? A yurt, circled around a bonfire beneath a canopy of stars. The desert is vast, windblown, and quiet. It's also home to a surprisingly vibrant ecosystem, which a walk with a local guide helps uncover. After a traditional dinner, a folk musician plays under the night sky. It’s one of those moments that seem crafted for memory—utterly simple, yet profound.

There’s a surreal shift the next day when you find yourself by the edge of Aydarkul Lake, a huge stretch of water that shimmers unexpectedly in the desert. A swim from its sandy beach feels like a mirage turned real. But the lightness of this moment stands in stark contrast to what comes next.

Boats on dry land

Heading northwest by sleeper train, the itinerary ventures into Karakalpakstan, a region that few travellers ever reach. Once rich in agriculture, this semi-autonomous republic now struggles under the weight of ecological collapse as a result of Soviet irrigation schemes that continue to lower the water levels in the Aral Sea. Moynaq, a once-thriving fishing port, now sits kilometres from the receding sea. The rusted hulls of ships lie stranded on dry earth like the skeletons of a vanished world. It’s haunting and unsettling, especially when you consider this is not ancient history - it’s a human-made disaster still unfolding.

Soviet Avant-Garde Art

In the regional capital of Nukus, the Savitsky Museum offers another unexpected highlight. Here, hidden for decades from Soviet censors, is one of the world’s most important collections of avant-garde Russian art. The contrast is striking—masterpieces of suppressed creativity set against the dusty desolation outside. It’s a reminder that even in the most unlikely corners, art persists.

Khiva's fortress

From the silence of Karakalpakstan, you make your way to Khiva, a city that looks as though it’s stepped from the pages of a fairy tale. Behind its mud-brick walls lies a perfectly preserved example of a Silk Road fortress town. This is where walking becomes an act of time travel. The carved doors, the tiled madrasahs, the watchful minarets—each detail speaks to centuries of power, trade, and spiritual life. Artisans still practise traditional crafts here, giving the city a lived-in feel despite its museum-like beauty.

Stepping back in time in Bukhara

Another train journey - back across the Kyzylkum Desert - brings you to Bukhara, where alleys wind like a maze around turquoise-domed mosques and quiet courtyards. There’s a lived-in charm here, a feeling that life continues much as it always has. Sitting by one of the old khauz, or stone water basins, sipping tea while children play and old men debate - this is the soul of Uzbekistan at its most accessible.

The city’s history is not without darkness. The Ark Fortress looms with stories of British spies and imperial cruelty. Elsewhere, tales of political intrigue and cultural survival play out across mausoleums and madrasahs. But Bukhara wears its past well, its many layers laid bare rather than polished for show.

Into the mountains

The journey finishes with a return to Tashkent, but not without a side trip to the Chimgan Mountains and one final surprise: a Soviet-era solar furnace, still in operation and somehow perfectly at home among the rugged peaks and alpine meadows. It’s a fitting end to a trip filled with unexpected contrasts.

So why visit Uzbekistan? Because few places offer such a rich interplay of history, culture, and landscape in such a compact space. Here, you can trace the footsteps of Silk Road merchants, ponder the remnants of Soviet ambition, and share a meal in a remote mountain village—all in the span of two weeks. It’s not a polished destination, and that’s part of the appeal. The infrastructure is improving, the people are welcoming, and the stories—whether told through architecture, artwork, or quiet conversation—run deep.

And why our Silk Road to the Aral Sea tour? It's because this itinerary doesn’t just hit the highlights. It reveals the layers that make Uzbekistan such a compelling destination: the ruins and the resilience, the artistry and the aridity, the echoes of empires and the realities of today. For travellers looking to understand more than just what’s on the surface, this tour of Uzbekistan rewards curiosity with depth, beauty, and no small amount of wonder.

Best time to go

April, May, September, October and the first part of November are the best months to travelto Uzbekistan. It is typically warm and dry without it being uncomfortably hot. If you can handle the heat you can travel in summer too.