The Silk Road of the Central Asia Region

(Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)

Overview: 

Tru­ly off the beat­en track, the “five stans” — Kaza­khstan, Kyr­gyzs­tan, Tajik­istan, Turk­menistan, and Uzbek­istan – that make up the heart of the Silk Road are not just the core of Cen­tral Asia, but are home to stun­ning scenery includ­ing — tow­er­ing moun­tains, stun­ning archi­tec­ture, serene lakes, gor­geous high­ways, rolling deserts, and of course burn­ing gas craters – and a range of diverse cul­tures, peo­ple and lifestyle, that makes this unique area of the world not just under­rat­ed and under­stood but a tru­ly spe­cial won­der of the world.  

His­tor­i­cal­ly diverse and at a true geo­graph­i­cal cross­roads, cen­tral Asia lies sand­wiched between Chi­na and Rus­sia to the East and Europe to the west – and as well as act­ing as an essen­tial trad­ing route between the two con­ti­nents in the first cen­turies, has also been the site of rev­o­lu­tions, the birth of empires and the sight of some of the great­est minds and dis­cov­er­ies, includ­ing in math­e­mat­ics and sci­ence, in human his­to­ry.  

Once a hotspot for explor­ers and trav­ellers – most notably with Mar­co Polo tread­ing the route – the five stans still remain shroud­ed in mys­tery and it is only in the 21st Cen­tu­ry that this region has begun to ful­ly wel­come trav­ellers, with the beau­ti­ful land­scapes and incred­i­ble cul­ture and archi­tec­ture of its cities still a chal­lenge – both from a visa and logis­tic per­spec­tive – to explore. 

Yet despite these chal­lenges, each coun­try and city of the Silk Road has a unique sto­ry to tell, with the stun­ning scenery and nat­ur­al won­ders, – includ­ing Kyrgyzstan’s beau­ti­ful Issyk Kul lake, the fire of the Dar­vaza crater and the vast moun­tain ranges of Tian Shan, Hin­du Kush – the stun­ning high­ways includ­ing one of the worlds great­est dri­ves of the Pamir High­way, the rolling deserts – includ­ing the gold­en sands of the Kara Kum and Kyzyl Kum deserts, and the stun­ning archi­tec­ture of the cities of Samarkand, Bishkek and Ash­ga­bat – all of whom com­bine stun­ning build­ings with bustling spice and silk mar­ket­places – ensur­ing that this stun­ning won­der tru­ly has some­thing to appeal to every trav­eller.  

A tru­ly spe­cial and untouched region, the beau­ty of each coun­try is tru­ly spe­cial, with Kaza­khstan – who’s famed moun­tain­ous steppe helps feed the region, and whose gor­geous moun­tains and lakes and of course the twin­kling Aral sea helps pow­er the coun­try – with the coun­try and the thriv­ing and charm­ing cap­i­tal of Almaty being eas­i­ly explorable by car, horse and even on a spe­cial sovi­et train through the Steppe.  

The thriv­ing and almost west­ern appeal of Kaza­khstan lies in stark con­trast to the moun­tains regions of the untouched and in places unex­plored beau­ty of Kyr­gyzs­tan – whose incred­i­ble snow-capped Tian Shan Moun­tains and yurt cen­tred vil­lages offer a real adven­ture on this stun­ning west­ern fron­tier for any explor­er. A tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing coun­try – whose cul­ture remains with the icon­ic Kyr­gyzs­tan poet­ry bat­tles a reg­u­lar occur­rence in the charm­ing and archi­tec­tur­al won­der of its cap­i­tal Bishkek, Kyr­gyzs­tan is undoubt­ed­ly the pre­mier place on the silk road to go trekking and get in touch with the ‘real’ Cen­tral Asian Region – with a home­s­tay in a yurt amidst these incred­i­ble moun­tains an absolute must for any­one seek­ing to expe­ri­ence and under­stand true life on the won­der of the silk road.  

You’ll also find pre­mier trekking across Tajik­istan whose serene Pamirs moun­tain ranges offers some of the most chal­leng­ing but reward­ing trekking on the plan­et, as too do the Fann moun­tains and the dan­ger­ous Wakhan Val­ley – which while beau­ti­ful we’d cau­tion against vis­it­ing due to pos­si­ble threats. Yet this is the only area of Tajik­istan that is cause for con­cern with the cap­i­tal Dushanbe being a tru­ly spe­cial place – with its unique posi­tion on two rivers offer­ing a per­fect set­ting for its famed Mon­day mar­kets – which are arguably the best across the whole of the Silk Road. Yet the true beau­ty of Tajik­istan and undoubt­ed­ly one of the most incred­i­ble expe­ri­ences across the whole of the Silk Road is the dri­ve across the Pamir High­way – a mul­ti-day dri­ve through the incred­i­ble Pamir moun­tains, that will test your dri­ving skills but also leave you in absolute won­der of this incred­i­ble part of the world. 

For those fas­ci­nat­ed by geo­log­i­cal won­ders and some of the worlds most secre­tive and seclud­ed Coun­tries, then the Silk road also fea­tures one of the most unex­plored and com­plex Coun­tries on the plan­et – with the fas­ci­nat­ing coun­try of Turk­menistan lying on the west of the silk road. Famed for its still burn­ing and liv­ing gas crater – which is affec­tion­ate­ly known as the Gates of Hell and which has been burn­ing since the mid 1970’s the heart of Turk­menistan lies in its stun­ning cap­i­tal – whose array of awe-inspir­ing mar­ble clad build­ing make for incred­i­ble pho­to spots and allows trav­ellers to explore this curi­ous and immense stop along the Silk Road – for a jour­ney unlike any oth­er.  

The final stop on the silk road is the great coun­try of Uzbek­istan – where you’ll find four of the great cities of the silk road and on the plan­et, with the stun­ning madras­sas and mosques of the cities of Bukhara, Khi­va, Samarkand and Tashkent being tru­ly incred­i­ble and rep­re­sent­ing the best of the Silk Road’s incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture. A coun­try brim­ming with youth and full of poten­tial, Uzbek­istan is also rich in his­to­ry, with the coun­try and its cities being an incred­i­ble place to learn about the sto­ry of the Silk Road and retrace the steps of his­tor­i­cal leg­ends includ­ing Genghis Khan, Alexan­der the Great and Mar­co Polo all of whom have held fort in the great and beau­ti­ful cities of Uzbek­istan.  

A tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing and awe-inspir­ing region, with some­thing for every­one and a chance to real­ly get off the beat­en trek and ven­ture into the unknown, a trip to the silk road is not easy – requir­ing patience, time, bud­get and see­ing you trav­el vast swathes of chal­leng­ing ter­rain, untouched land­scapes and mean­ing you need to over­come logis­ti­cal trav­el ele­ments, but for those who do you can expect an explor­ers par­adise – filled with desert, glo­ri­ous lakes, incred­i­ble high­ways, stun­ning cities and tru­ly unique cul­ture and an unfor­get­table adven­ture as you set out over the unique won­der of the world that is the Silk Road.  

Where:

The heart of the won­der of the Silk Road – the Five ‘Stans’ are offi­cial­ly classed as Cen­tral Asia – part of the great con­ti­nent of Asia, with the Coun­tries of Kaza­khstan, Kyr­gyzs­tan, Tajik­istan, Turk­menistan, and Uzbek­istan stretch­ing from Geor­gia in the west across the Caspi­an Sea to the edges of Chi­na and Mon­go­lia in the east – with the region also bor­der­ing Rus­sia in the north – as part of the old Sovi­et Union and Iran and Afghanistan to the south – with the incred­i­ble plains, steppe’s, tow­er­ing moun­tains and nat­ur­al won­ders com­ing togeth­er across the more than 4 mil­lion km2 of land to make this vast and diverse region a true won­der of the world.  

Getting There: 

Undoubt­ed­ly off the beat­en track, Cen­tral Asia is slow­ly begin­ning to open up to the world – thanks in no part to the grow­ing aware­ness of its stun­ning beau­ty, the eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits of tourism and the devel­op­ment of trav­el meth­ods.  

Yet despite this, vis­it­ing the stans – and espe­cial­ly Turk­menistan – requires advance plan­ning, mul­ti­ple bureau­crat­ic hur­dle to get visas, a guide and in some cas­es a let­ter of invi­ta­tion issued by a min­istry – with trips across the silk road like­ly to require weeks of plan­ning, mul­ti­ple appoint­ments and a poten­tial­ly heavy hit to your wal­let – so to make things as easy as pos­si­ble we’ve round­ed up a quick bit of advice (which is con­stant­ly sub­ject to change and should be dou­ble checked before tak­ing on your trip to the Silk Road) to hope­ful­ly make things as easy as pos­si­ble when it comes to explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der: 

By Flight: 

Start­ing with the most acces­si­ble Coun­tries upon the Silk Road – and you’ll find that after get­ting your Vias’s you can fly direct­ly to Kyr­gyzs­tan (Bishkek *note no visa required) from across all major Euro­pean and North Amer­i­can Coun­tries, although we’d advise to put aside a lit­tle bit of mon­ey for the flight as it is known to be expen­sive.  

The same also applies for direct access into Almaty with­in Kaza­khstan – where dai­ly flights from the air­line Pega­sus are known to oper­ate – although again it’s essen­tial to have your visa to hand and to bud­get for the cost of the flight if fly­ing from out­side Cen­tral Asia.  

You can also find direct flights into Dushanbe in Tajik­istan, with the cost of these flights being known to be a lit­tle cheap­er – although tak­ing a bit longer on the route there and with there being less choic­es on the route it. The oppo­site also applies for Tashkent in Uzbek­istan – where flights are plen­ti­ful­ly – and you’ll find many options but as a result of air­port tax­es imposed on all inter­na­tion­al flights you’ll need to stretch your bud­get to get to Uzbek­istan.  

While there are flights into Ash­ga­bat in Turk­menistan, we’d advise against that as a mode of trav­el, and instead would advo­cate for a Fer­ry or self-dri­ve entry into Turk­menistan to make your life eas­i­er. With our advice to get­ting to the Silk Road by air being to focus on entry into one coun­try first as a base (either Kyr­gyzs­tan or Kaza­khstan) and then use a range of inter­nal flights, self-dri­ve or coach to trav­el around the region.  

By Ferry (Turkmenistan) 

While there is an option to fly into Turk­menistan – and this may well be the route accom­pa­nied trav­el tours take you, for those who fan­cy a true adven­ture that is fit­ting for this unearthed and mys­te­ri­ous nation, you have the option of tak­ing the Caspi­an Sea Fer­ry from the Azer­bai­jan cap­i­tal Baku to the city of Turk­men­bashi in Turk­menistan.  

While a fer­ry across the Caspi­an Sea – that takes you to the port of Turk­menistan seems straight­for­ward enough, do be warned that the Caspi­an Sea fer­ry has no fixed sched­ule and is known to leave every cou­ple of days at irreg­u­lar times – so you’ll have to bud­get a cou­ple of days into your sched­ule when tak­ing this route. Do also be advised that you’ll need to head to the Turk­menistan embassy in Baku before depart­ing on the fer­ry to get your visa and paper­work sort­ed before arriv­ing on the fer­ry – with visas into Turk­menistan oper­at­ing on a strict timescale which can make get­ting the fer­ry – with its irreg­u­lar sched­ule – a poten­tial­ly stress­ful expe­ri­ence.  

Cost­ing around $25 Usd – the ferry’s arrival port lends itself for self-dri­ving in Turk­menistan with the roads from Turk­men­bashi to Ash­ga­bat being a smooth jour­ney and the fer­ry accom­mo­dat­ing cars and trucks – with the route also being one that is approved by the Turk­menistan gov­ern­ment – so if you’re pre­pared to spend a cou­ple of days in Baku check­ing in on when the fer­ry leaves we’d rec­om­mend this route as a safe and secure way of arriv­ing with­in Turk­menistan to begin your jour­ney across the Silk Road.  

Entering the Silk Road Overland 

Along­side using the direct flights and the fer­ry to enter the Silk Road, you can also enter the incred­i­ble region by car, bus and train – which makes for a sim­ple and easy way to both enter the region and take advan­tage of the vast area that makes up cen­tral Asia.  

From Rus­sia: For those depart­ing from Rus­sia and head­ing into Cen­tral Asia you’ve got two main options to enter the Silk Road; by car or by train. For those trav­el­ling by Car and self dri­ving around the region, the eas­i­est option is to head to one of the South­ern cities in Rus­sia – such as Omsk or Sama­ra and then head along the A‑13 motor­way into Kaza­khstan – bear­ing in mind to be pre­pared with paper­work and queues when cross­ing into the Silk Road.  

Along­side this Rus­sia is blessed with an incred­i­ble train net­work that offers easy access into varies cities across the Silk Road – with trains leav­ing from the Russ­ian cap­i­tal Moscow Kazan­sky sta­tion with options to go to Almaty in Kaza­khstan which takes just over three days for $100 Usd, Bishkek in Kyr­gyzs­tan for $70 hours and which takes just under three days, or  Samarkand or  Tashkent in Uzbek­istan which both take around 55 hours and costs $80 Usd.  

From Chi­na: While we wouldn’t rec­om­mend dri­ving in Chi­na – owing to both the dif­fi­cul­ty on the roads and the mas­sive bureau­cra­cy which includes a ban on for­eign­ers dri­ving, you can take a train from the province of Xin­jiang in the north of Chi­na to access the Silk Road – with trains run­ning to Kaza­khstan or Kyr­gyzs­tan once a week and tak­ing 3 days to arrive, with trains cost­ing $70 Usd. While trains from Chi­na are reli­able sad­ly Xin­jiang prove­nance has devel­oped a recent rep­u­ta­tion  of being a lit­tle unsafe, so for those who are set on trav­el­ling by train to reach the Silk Road from Chi­na we’d encour­age you to be on your guard and pre­pared for delays and inci­dents in the region.  

From Iran and Pak­istan: Final­ly while you may get refer­rals to enter the silk road from either Iran or Pak­istan – we’d strong­ly advise against tak­ing either trans­port or self dri­ving across these coun­tries to reach the Silk Road – with both Coun­tries hav­ing chal­leng­ing dri­ving con­di­tions and with mul­ti­ple chal­lenges for for­eign­ers to both enter each coun­try and enter one of the stans – so we’d advise for a has­sle free trip mak­ing either Iran or Pak­istan as your port of entry into the Silk Road.  

Traveling across the Silk Road:  

Hav­ing got your­self into the Silk Road either by Air, Fer­ry or by land – the next stop will be to fig­ure out your way to hope from one Stan to the next – so you can explore all that this incred­i­ble part of the world has to offer. The eas­i­est option to hop from coun­try to coun­try (with the excep­tion of Turk­menistan) is by flight – and you’ll find a range of cheap offers for get­ting between each coun­try that can make this easy and effi­cient for explor­ing the Silk Road – just remem­ber to have the visas and paper­work all lined up before you trav­el.  

Along­side this you’ll also find a range of mini-bus options run by tour groups – which can make for a great way to both cross the bor­ders and see some of the sights, with the tour groups all avail­able and book­able online and which also offers a great way to take the stress out of dri­ving in for­eign coun­tries.  

For those who are trav­el­ing inde­pen­dent­ly across the silk road, there are three main options – first­ly you can take advan­tage of the unpre­dictable but cheap and com­fort­able train net­work – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those trav­el­ing across Kaza­khstan and into Uzbek­istan where the train net­work is known for being safe.  

Sec­ond­ly there is the option to sim­ply flag down a taxi near the bor­ders of the silk road coun­tries and hope that your dri­ver is able to fer­ry across – and final­ly and for our rec­om­men­da­tion the undoubt­ed­ly eas­i­est way to trav­el across the silk road and from Turk­menistan east across the oth­er four Silk Road Cen­tral Asian Coun­tries is to self dri­ve – with the dri­ve across these incred­i­ble coun­tries being one of the most stun­ning and spe­cial dri­ves on the plan­et and also giv­ing you the free­dom to explore this incred­i­ble won­der of the world at your own pace.  

Best time to Visit: 

Owing to the vast size of the Silk Road, you’ll find that each coun­try comes with its own cli­mate and land­scapes who lend them­selves to dif­fer­ent vis­it­ing times which reflects the unique­ness of the great Cen­tral Asia region.  

Yet despite the weath­er diver­si­ty you’ll find that there is com­mon­al­i­ty across the five Stans that make up the Silk Road – with each coun­try hav­ing very cold win­ters and roast­ing hot sum­mers which can make trav­el and your explo­ration of this region chal­leng­ing. For this rea­son, we advise tai­lor­ing the tim­ing of your vis­it based on the areas of the Silk Road you wish to explore.  

Fol­low­ing this con­sid­er­a­tion, for those who wish to explore the beau­ty of the Tian Shan Moun­tains and are com­ing to the Silk Road for moun­taineer­ing and trekking we’d advise tim­ing your vis­it for the late sum­mer sea­son – where the worst of the heat will have passed but you’ll be treat­ed to warm and per­fect con­di­tions for trekking – with those set on explor­ing the moun­tain ranges of Kaza­khstan, Kyr­gyzs­tan and Tajik­istan being advised to tai­lor their trip to coin­cide with the pleas­ant and warm weath­er – but also being advised to bring plen­ty of water as they do so.  

Sim­i­lar­ly the sum­mer peri­od see’s intense heat in the cities – so for those who want to explore the tow­er­ing minarets, his­to­ry and beau­ty of the cities of Uzbek­istan and the mar­ble palaces of Turk­menistan then we’d advise to steer well clear of the swel­ter­ing con­di­tions in Sum­mer if pos­si­ble and time your trips out­side of the Sum­mer peri­od – with the cool­er weath­er found in the alter­na­tive sea­sons.  

As, in our view, any trip across the Silk Road should take in both the incred­i­ble Moun­tain Ranges and the beau­ty and his­to­ry of the city, we’d advise the best time to vis­it would be in the ear­ly spring or late Autumn, where you can get the best of both the warmer cli­mates in the Moun­tain Ranges and the slight­ly cool­er weath­er in the cities – giv­ing you the best of both worlds – and the best pos­si­ble expe­ri­ence along the Silk Road. How­ev­er, if this is not pos­si­ble it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared for the dif­fer­ing cli­mates and the poten­tial tough con­di­tions if you’re to make the absolute most of your time on the Silk Road.  

How long to stay 

An incred­i­bly rich, var­ied and diverse won­der of the world – it’s tru­ly pos­si­ble to spend months explor­ing the incred­i­ble won­ders of the Silk Road – from the glo­ri­ous moun­tains of the Pamir High­way to the still burn­ing fires of the Dar­vaza Crater or spend­ing days won­der­ing through the incred­i­ble towns, his­to­ry and art of the many cities of Uzbek­istan – there is tru­ly some­thing for every­one – and an untold num­ber of fas­ci­nat­ing won­ders to explore in this spe­cial part of the world.  

Yet with con­sid­er­a­tion of the real world, work com­mit­ments and bud­get, we’d rec­om­mend a min­i­mum of two weeks explor­ing the Silk Road. With these two weeks being action packed and see­ing you jump from coun­ty to coun­try and high­light to high­light along the Silk Road, with two weeks being the absolute min­i­mum that you’ll need – either in one trip or spread across mul­ti­ple trips – to explore the full beau­ty and to tru­ly under­stand the great Silk Road.   

For this rea­son and bud­get­ing for two weeks, it’s there­fore essen­tial that any trav­el­er seek­ing to under­take a jour­ney on the Silk Road spends a bit of time both plan­ning their ide­al itin­er­ary and begins the visa appli­ca­tion process a few months before­hand to ensure that when they arrive upon the Silk Road they are able to hit the ground run­ning and make the best of their lim­it­ed time in this incred­i­ble won­der.  

Top Tip 

A rich, diverse and beau­ti­ful area – a trip across the Silk Road requires exten­sive plan­ning, moun­tains of bureau­cra­cy and a know how and under­stand­ing of the area to make sure your trav­el and jour­ney in this incred­i­ble part of the world is as reward­ing as pos­si­ble.  

Undoubt­ed­ly the main stick­ing point for so many trav­el­ers is the com­plex­i­ty of visas required to vis­it this area – as well as the chal­lenges of enter­ing Turk­menistan and decid­ing exact­ly what to do and which spots to hit in this vast and incred­i­ble part of the world, but for those who come pre­pared and for those who do keep their wits about them and ensure they respect the diverse and sacred cul­tures across the Silk Road – a trip to Cen­tral Asia can be one of the most life chang­ing and inspi­ra­tional explo­rations on the plan­et – as well as one of the safest, with the area known to be a great spot not just for hitch­hik­ing – espe­cial­ly on the Pamir High­way – but also for female solo trav­el­ers.  

To help make sure your jour­ney in this vast and beau­ti­ful won­der of the world is as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble – and to hope­ful­ly make things a lit­tle eas­i­er when it comes to deal­ing with the Visa Bureau­cra­cy and the admin required for a jour­ney on the Silk Road, we’ve round­ed out our top tips for vis­it­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Silk Road:  

- Visa: One of the major stick­ing points for a vis­it to the Silk Road – the Visa process has (thank­ful­ly !) become a lit­tle eas­i­er in recent years, but the process will still require plen­ty of patience, a lit­tle bit of mon­ey and vis­its to Embassies to secure for all five Coun­tries across the Silk Road.  

Start­ing with the eas­i­est one Kyr­gyzs­tan now offers a visa free pro­gram for 60 nation­al­i­ties – which can be applied for online and Kaza­khstan is also rolling out a sim­i­lar scheme as well – although it’s lim­it­ed to just 30 Coun­tries – so be sure to dou­ble check your visa require­ments based on your nation­al­i­ty. For Tajik­istan and Uzbek­istan – visa on arrival process­es are cur­rent­ly being launched which can be applied for at the air­port – how­ev­er we’d strong­ly encour­age you to secure your visa for all coun­tries before hand if pos­si­ble.  

To do this you’ll need to fill out the elec­tron­ic e‑visa forms for each coun­try and pay the required mon­ey, then for cer­tain coun­tries based on your nation­al­i­ty an in-per­son vis­it to the embassies will be required – where ques­tions about your trip, con­fir­ma­tion of your hotels and how you intend­ed to fund your trav­els will all be asked.  

Be sure to have your exact itin­ery to hand as well – as, depend­ing on your nation­al­i­ty, some Coun­tries will require to know your exact dates of entry and only issue you visas for cer­tain time peri­ods – which (espe­cial­ly if you’re get­ting the Caspi­an Sea Fer­ry) can cause you headaches on arrival.  

For Turk­menistan the visa process – unless going by a tour – you will require a let­ter of invi­ta­tion (LOI) which you can ask a hotel or local tour guide to pre­pare for you if you are plan­ning on stay­ing for longer than 5 days, after secur­ing the LOI you then have to fill out the e‑visa and go to a local con­sulate (we’d rec­om­mend the one in Baku if tak­ing the Fer­ry) where you can expect your visa to be signed after detail­ing your itin­er­ary – expect the process to take between 2–3 months. Alter­na­tive­ly, and for a slight­ly sim­pler process you can seek to apply for a tran­sit visa – which can be used to trav­el through Turk­menistan to  fur­ther Coun­try on the Silk Road – while you’ll still need to go through the paper­work and Visa process a tran­sit visa allows you entry for 3–5 days and takes a month to process – although be warned these visa’s are noto­ri­ous for being reject­ed.  

So all in all, while you can seek the assis­tance of a trav­el com­pa­ny to secure your visas for the Silk Road, we’d encour­age you to under­take it by your­self – as it’s part of the Silk Road and expe­ri­ence! – just be sure to plan well in advance – at least two months, have your exact dates and itin­er­ary to hand when apply­ing and approach the whole process with a lit­tle bit of a bud­get, plen­ty of patience and an under­stand­ing that there may be a cou­ple of set­back along the way.  

- Sec­ond­ly – and fol­low­ing on from the Visa top tip, we’d encour­age you to come to the Silk Road with a detailed and well-pre­pared plan. Giv­en the vast size of Cen­tral Asia – and like­ly your lim­it­ed time it’s essen­tial that you’re able to hit all the incred­i­ble cities, moun­tain range and nat­ur­al won­ders that you want to give you a taste of this incred­i­ble region. To do  this and par­tic­u­lar­ly in con­sid­er­a­tion of both the visa time lim­its and the fact that you will want your trav­el time to be as effi­cient as pos­si­ble – it’s essen­tial to have a day to day plan to help you make the most of your jour­ney.  

 - Addi­tion­al it’s incred­i­bly impor­tant when trav­el­ing along the Silk Road that you respect the diverse cul­tures and tra­di­tions of the local peo­ple. Across the region reli­gious and self-iden­ti­fi­ca­tion is a huge issue and some­thing that can and con­tin­ues to cause con­flict, so as a vis­i­tor it’s vital­ly impor­tant that you treat the cul­tures and peo­ple with respect, par­tic­u­lar­ly with small­er ges­tures such as dress­ing mod­est­ly – par­tic­u­lar­ly in places of wor­ship, remov­ing shoes when head­ing indoors and above all not assum­ing anyone’s reli­gion or eth­nic­i­ty.  

- Final­ly along­side mak­ing sure you have trav­el insur­ance giv­en the unpre­dictabil­i­ty of a trip along the Silk Road, we’d encour­age you to be care­ful about which regions on the Silk Road you vis­it from a safe­ty per­spec­tive. While the major­i­ty of cities and towns are con­sid­ered gen­er­al­ly safe and you only need to be con­cerned about pick pock­ets and thief’s – there are cer­tain areas par­tic­u­lar­ly towards the Tajik­istan and Afghanistan bor­der that we’d advise to avoid.  

How­ev­er all in all as long as you have your wits about you and don’t seek to trav­el to noto­ri­ous­ly dan­ger­ous places you can expect a safe and enjoy­able envi­ron­ment when trav­el­ling across the true won­der of the world that is the Silk Road.  

Cost:

When bud­get­ing for a trip to the Silk Road there’s a base price that every­one needs to accom­mo­date for – which includes visas and flights there – and after the base price there’s a range of bud­get options to suit every trav­eller and explor­er – mak­ing a trip to this won­der of the world both one that can be done in high end lux­u­ry or one that can accom­mo­date a tight bud­get.  

Con­sid­er­ing the base price first, and we’d rec­om­mend set­ting aside at least $50 Usd for the visas – as well as an extra $100 Usd in the event Visa’s are reject­ed, with it also being nec­es­sary to bud­get a lit­tle bit of mon­ey for the logis­tics (appoint­ments, ser­vice charge etc) when get­ting visa’s – with the main cost for visa’s com­ing in the labour and time they take to acquire.  

Next you’ll need to bud­get for get­ting onto the Silk Road – which can be done by flight, land, Fer­ry or train – for those on a bud­get we’d rec­om­mend get­ting the Caspi­an sea fer­ry from Baku which is avail­able online and for which you should bud­get $50usd (includ­ing accom­mo­da­tion in Baku) or tak­ing on the long train ride from Rus­sia (between $70 — $100Usd) oth­er­wise, for those with a lit­tle more free­dom on the bud­get front you might want to con­sid­er a flight onto the Silk Road – and for those fly­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly we’d advise set­ting aside at least $800 Usd on a one-way flight into one of the more accom­mo­dat­ing and easy to access coun­tries on the Silk Road.  

Along­side this you’ll need to bud­get a lit­tle bit of mon­ey for get­ting around the Silk Road, which can be done by train, shared trans­porta­tion or on our per­son­al rec­om­men­da­tion self-dri­ving between the coun­tries – but regard­less of the method as a base bud­get you should set aside an extra $250 Usd for trav­el between the coun­tries – although for those with plen­ty of time who are on a bud­get you could always try your luck hitch­hik­ing – with the Silk road and the Pamir high­way in par­tic­u­lar­ly known to be incred­i­bly friend­ly for those with­out a ride.  

Fac­tor­ing in accom­mo­da­tion – which can range from high end lux­u­ry at $200 Usd a night to bud­get hos­tels and even camp sites at $10 usd a night, food at $10 a night and of course the occa­sion­al bit of spend­ing mon­ey for which you’ll need both cash, Usd and an inter­na­tion­al visa card  — for which we’d sug­gest bud­get­ing between $20 — $50 Usd a night depend­ing on your bud­get and a trip to the Silk Road – espe­cial­ly giv­en the min­i­mum amount of time we’d sug­gest explor­ing this won­der slow­ly begins to add-up.  

There­fore fac­tor­ing in the both the base trav­el and visa costs it’s pos­si­ble to explore the Silk Road over the course of two weeks for as lit­tle as $1,800 Usd – how­ev­er we’d real­ly rec­om­mend set­ting aside at least $2,500 Usd and as much as $3,500 Usd to ensure your explo­ration of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world is as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble.   

Fun Fact:

A sim­ply stun­ning part of the world – along­side explor­ing the nat­ur­al phenomena’s, tow­er­ing moun­tains, gor­geous steppe’s, lush green hills and rolling deserts of the Silk Road, we’d also advise mak­ing time to catch the local sport – the game of Buzkhashi – a sport sim­i­lar to the west­ern game of polo – except in Buzkhashi the horse mount­ed play­ers are attempt­ing to drag a goat car­cass into a goal – which makes for a fas­ci­nat­ing and inter­est­ing watch.  

For those who don’t fan­cy catch­ing a game of Buzkhashi then you can also find true enlight­en­ment across the Silk Road – with the region being rich in his­to­ry and cul­ture – so much so that Cen­tral Asia is known as the birth­place of mod­ern Maths, sci­ence, med­i­cine and even Islam mak­ing it one of the most inspi­ra­tional and way of life defin­ing won­ders on the plan­et – just be sure to plan your stops well in advance as the vast­ness of the area of Cen­tral Asia means some res­i­dents are clos­er to Europe than they are to areas of their own coun­tries ! 

Sights to See & Best photo spots: 

A stun­ning­ly diverse and rich won­der and part of the world, the Cen­tral Asian Region along the Silk Road is awash with incred­i­ble sights – from tow­er­ing moun­tains and pass­es, to shim­mer­ing lakes, archi­tec­tur­al and rich cities and unique nat­ur­al phenomena’s – mak­ing it not just a stun­ning won­der of the world but also a pho­tog­ra­phers dream and one of the only places in the world that pho­tog­ra­phers can come to cap­ture not only indi­vid­u­al­is­tic sights but also unique land­scapes, cul­tures and expe­ri­ences.  

Being care­ful to only pho­to­graph where per­mit­ted – being sure to respect reli­gious mon­u­ments (par­tic­u­lar­ly inside) and only tak­ing pho­tos of indi­vid­u­als when agreed – pho­tos along the silk road are tru­ly spe­cial and there are hun­dreds upon hun­dreds of incred­i­ble sights in this spe­cial part of the world for any explor­er to snap and take home.  

But not­ing the vast dis­tance of the region – and any explor­ers desire to squeeze as many sights into their trip as pos­si­ble, to make things as spe­cial as pos­si­ble for any trav­eller we’ve round­ed out our top 3 must snap won­ders in each of the five con­ti­nents that make up the incred­i­ble won­der of the world of the Silk Road: 

Kazakhstan – Top three sights to Photograph: 

A tru­ly incred­i­ble and rich coun­try, the snow-capped moun­tains, twin­kling Aral sea of course the great city of Almaty make up some of the many jew­els of Kaza­khstan – and it’s also one of the best coun­tries in the world to explore by cars, with incred­i­ble and well-kept roads, which will eas­i­ly let you vis­it and pho­to­graph our three top pho­tog­ra­phy picks of Kaza­khstan: 

- Almaty – a stun­ning city, and often the first of the silk road that greets explor­ers, Almaty is con­sid­ered the most “Euro­pean City” across Asia, but it still retains its region­al and his­tor­i­cal charm with the gor­geous Ascen­sion Cathe­dral show­cas­ing the best of reli­gious archi­tec­ture across the region, and the twin parks of Gorky and the First Pres­i­dents Park being stun­ning exam­ples of well kept green­ery in the city. For an extra spe­cial pho­to we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the blue waters of Almaty lake – or mak­ing the climb to the top of the Kok Tobe Hill – from where you can snap the won­der of Alam­ty down below you for an extra spe­cial shot.  

- Tien-Shan Moun­tains – sim­ply incred­i­ble, the green, orange and snow capped moun­tains of the Kaza­khstan east­ern Tien-Shan Moun­tains are a wild, raw and untamed expe­ri­ence – and a true insight into the ‘real’ region – with mul­ti-day hikes or horse rides across this incred­i­ble region being one of the great adven­tures on the plan­et. Forc­ing you to adapt to the con­di­tions – and with min­i­mal sup­port – a trip across the moun­tains can be dan­ger­ous – but with a good guide and plen­ty of for­ward plan­ning they allow you to explore tru­ly incred­i­ble scenery unlike any oth­er region and cap­ture one of the best nature pho­tographs on the plan­et.  

- The Great Dala / Kaza­khstan Steppe – Found in the north of the coun­try, the Great Dala is wild untamed land stretch­ing to the Russ­ian bor­der in the north – and with a wild array of fields, hills and moun­tains – and home to the tra­di­tion­al com­mu­ni­ties and plen­ty of yurts it makes for a tru­ly incred­i­ble insight into tra­di­tion­al Kaza­khstani life and one of the great wild land­scape pho­tos across the silk road. Explorable on horse­back or by off road vehi­cle – we’d also rec­om­mend explor­ing the region safe­ly as a pas­sen­ger on a train through the steppe – with the route tak­ing you across the plains into the Russ­ian city of Uta – on one of the great train jour­neys on the plan­et.  

Kyrgyzstan – Top Three sights to Photograph: 

Tru­ly mag­i­cal the great city of Kyr­gyzs­tan has it all for pho­tog­ra­phers – with the deep his­tor­i­cal­ly rich and warm city of Bishkek – with its great square and bazar’s, and the best of the Tien Shan moun­tains – with emer­ald lakes and tow­er­ing moun­tains – and the chance to tru­ly expe­ri­ence nomadic life and stay in Yurts beneath clear skies and stars – in one the most peace­ful and serene expe­ri­ences on the plan­et, with the below being our top three must snap places in this incred­i­ble coun­try: 

 - Bishkek — The great cap­i­tal of Kyr­gyzs­tan, Bishkek is stands on the edge of a series of incred­i­ble moun­tain ranges, gorges and canyons – includ­ing the mighty Ala Archa and Issyk-Ata gorge, which make for great day trips out of the cap­i­tal. The city itself is a clas­sic silk road city – with Bishkek being awash with a range of colour­ful Bazaar’s — includ­ing our favourite the Osh Bazar which makes for a great and colour­ful pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty, as well as a range of fas­ci­nat­ing squares includ­ing the Ala-Too Square and the thought-pro­vok­ing mon­u­ment to those who died for free­dom – which both make for great places to cap­ture the essence of this colour­ful and rich cap­i­tal.   

 - The Tien Shan Moun­tain Range – offer­ing anoth­er oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore the rolling hills and great tow­er­ing moun­tain peaks of the Tien Shan range, the expe­ri­ence in Kyr­gyzs­tan of this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der is unlike any oth­er, with the route into the moun­tains best achieved in true nomadic style – on horse­back giv­ing you not only a thrilling expe­ri­ence but a great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty atop a horse in these stun­ning moun­tains. Along­side this, you can expect inspir­ing and beau­ti­ful moun­tain views and a chance to explore a tru­ly off the beat­en track but sim­ply awe-inspir­ing moun­tain range.  

 - A night with the nomads – Along­side trekking in the Tien Shan Moun­tains, Kyr­gyzs­tan’s vast plains and moun­tain ranges also offer anoth­er unique and pho­to­genic expe­ri­ence – the chance to tru­ly immerse your­self in silk road and nomadic cul­ture – by spend­ing the night in a tra­di­tion­al yurt. A must do expe­ri­ence for any­one attempt­ing to under­stand the way of life across the silk road, you can find Yurt stays book­able online – or pre-arranged with local fam­i­lies – and we’d encour­age you to come with a gift for the own­ers (choco­late always goes down well with fam­i­lies), an open mind as well as a good cam­era to make sure you both make the best of this unique stay and that you are able to ful­ly cap­ture this once in a life time expe­ri­ence.  

Tajikistan– Top Three sights to Photograph: 

 Undoubt­ed­ly the place to snap incred­i­ble high­way and moun­tain pho­tos, the great coun­try of Tajik­istan is home to one the great dri­ves on the plan­et – the route through the impos­ing but beau­ti­ful Pamir high­way – one of the worlds tru­ly great dri­ves and an area filled with rich moun­tains, stun­ning lakes and tru­ly incred­i­ble scenery. Along­side the Pamir high­way you’ll also find pre­mier trekking on this part of the silk road – not just in the Pamir moun­tains but in the beau­ti­ful Fann Moun­tains as well, with the cap­i­tal of Khu­jand being one of the most rich – and pho­to­genic cities across the whole region – mak­ing it tough to nar­row down the fol­low­ing three picks for must snap pho­tos in this incred­i­ble coun­try:  

 — The Pamir High­way – One of the worlds great­est road trips, the sights of the Pamir are as beau­ti­ful as they are remote, with the more than 1400km of road that stretch­es across Tajik­istan tak­ing you to and across tow­er­ing moun­tains, along­side serene emer­ald lakes and across some of the most pho­to­genic spots and roads on the plan­et. A true test of your dri­ving abil­i­ties, the Pamir high­way requires exten­sive plan­ning – and is not for the faint heart­ed, but for those who make the jour­ney across this incred­i­ble high­way you can expect sen­sa­tion­al views and tru­ly spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

 — Trekking Tajik­istan – Along­side dri­ving the Pamir high­way, you’ll also find incred­i­ble trekking oppor­tu­ni­ties across Tajik­istan – not least in the Pamir Moun­tains but also in the incred­i­ble beau­ti­ful moun­tain vil­lages of the Fann Moun­tains – with both des­ti­na­tions offer­ing stun­ning hikes across moun­tain views, wild ter­rain and best of all from a pho­tog­ra­phy per­spec­tive a series of unspoiled and untouched moun­tain vil­lages– giv­ing you a true insight into the tra­di­tion­al way of life on the Silk Road. Allow­ing you also to get off the beat­en track and tru­ly con­nect to the silk road, it’s impor­tant that you plan your treks well in advance, tak­ing enough sup­plies and a ded­i­cat­ed route – but as the road takes you through gor­geous moun­tain pass­es and lush green val­leys, you’ll be treat­ed to some of the worlds most incred­i­ble views – and some tru­ly spe­cial pho­tos.  

-  Explor­ing Khu­jand – one of the old­est cities across the entire Silk Road that once con­nect­ed Samarkand to the Fer­gana val­ley, the Per­sian dat­ed city of Khu­jand is tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar and fea­tures some of the most incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture across cen­tral asia – with the tow­er­ing Jami and Bofan­da Mosques being par­tiuclar­ly impres­sive – and mak­ing for spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties. Along­side this you can also grab incred­i­ble pho­tos at the Mau­soleum of Sheik Mus­li­hid­din – whose exte­ri­or walls are par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial at sun­set and at the dai­ly Pan­jshanbe Bozor – where along­side grab­bing a bar­gain you can cap­ture a way of life that has dat­ed back for thou­sands of years – mak­ing the town of Khuh­jand one of the most his­toric, sep­cial and pho­to­genic spots across the whole of the Silk Road.  

Turkmenistan– Top Three sights to Photograph:

One of the most fas­ci­nat­ing Coun­tries on the plan­et – the unique, off the beat­en track and secre­tive world of Turk­menistan is like no oth­er on both the silk road and the plan­et – with it’s incred­i­bly cap­i­tal of Ash­ga­bat, with its many mar­ble minarets and mosques pro­vid­ing many stun­ning and rare pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties, which are only arguably topped by the vast plains of the beau­ti­ful Yangykala Canyon and of course the impos­ing still burn­ing fire of the Dar­vaza crater – one of the undoubt­ed won­ders and fas­ci­nat­ing sights of the world – and which rounds out our top three picks to pho­to­graph in this fas­ci­nat­ing coun­ty: 

- Ash­ga­bat – Dom­i­nat­ed by clean white mar­ble, the town of Ash­ga­bat is as fas­ci­nat­ing as it is beau­ti­ful, with this tru­ly off the beat­en and secre­tive town being host to some incred­i­ble mosques, mau­soleums and mon­u­ments – that make for a tru­ly great and unique place to snap pho­tos along the Silk Road. Undoubt­ed­ly start­ing with the gold domed Gyp­jak mosque and then mak­ing you way round to the stat­ue palace of the Turk­menistan palace of inde­pen­dence, the wed­ding palace and neu­tral­i­ty mon­u­ment – whose tiered roof makes for a great pho­to spot for panoram­ic pho­tos of Ash­ga­bat — you’ll be hit by incred­i­ble build­ing after the next. Do be sure to not pho­to­graph peo­ple – and of course respect the cul­ture when inside mosques – with snap­ping pho­tos in Ash­ga­bat some­thing to be done with care – but for all the leg­ends, sto­ries and unique­ness of this incred­i­ble town, Ash­ga­bat is a tru­ly beau­ti­ful city and one that offers mul­ti­ple incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

 — Yangykala Canyon – Tru­ly Spe­cial – the dif­fer­ing for­ma­tions, pat­terns and dark rouge colours of the Yangykala Canyon lie a world away from the hus­tle and bus­tle of Ash­ga­bat – with this incred­i­ble canyon offer­ing a tru­ly stun­ning scenic vista and one of the great nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na to pho­to­graph across the silk road. Best expe­ri­enced in our view at either sun­rise or sun­set – where you can watch the entire canyon light up with the sun, we’d advise dri­ving to the Canyon by your­self to get the full expe­ri­ence – and if you do you can expect to be treat­ed to an absolute­ly pho­to­genic and beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der.  

 — Dar­vaza Crater – The gates of hell, the con­tin­u­ous­ly burn­ing Dar­vaza Crater has burned since a failed sovi­et exper­i­ment opened up a fire crater in the mid­dle of the Turk­menistan desert, and since then this incred­i­ble phe­nom­e­non has stood and shined as one of the most scenic, fas­ci­nat­ing and pho­to­genic won­ders on the plan­et. Best seen and pho­tographed at sun­set and in the night – when you get the incred­i­ble fire set against the warm and deep Turk­menistan stars, we’d advise dri­ving – slow­ly to the crater (and being sure to dodge pot­hole galore on the way) and then camp­ing at the crater – which will give you enough time to soak in and snap this incred­i­ble crater from all angles and in both the day­time, sun­set, night time and sun­rise – giv­ing you the absolute best pho­tos of the fiery gates of hell.  

Uzbekistan– Top Three sights to Photograph 

The heart of the Silk Road – and a great spot for photographer’s keen on cap­tur­ing both the his­to­ry and stun­ning vil­lages and towns of the Silk Road, Uzbek­istan is a tru­ly beau­ti­ful coun­try and one blessed with four incred­i­ble cities – with the cities of Bukhara, Khi­va, Samarkand and Tashkent – fea­tur­ing some of the great madras­sas and mosques on the plan­et – and mak­ing for an incred­i­ble place to spend a few days pho­tograph­ing and explor­ing the his­to­ry of the silk road. Along­side this you’ll also find the heart of Islam in the beau­ti­ful green moun­tains and green steppes of the Fer­gana Val­ley and one of the lifeblood’s of the incred­i­ble region in the Aral Sea – which com­plete our top three rec­om­mend­ed spots in the tru­ly unique won­der of the world that is the great Silk Road:  

 — The Cities of Uzbek­istan – blessed with four incred­i­ble cities – Bukhara, Khi­va, Samarkand and Tashkent, the madras­sas, mosques and minarets of Uzbek­istan are tru­ly spe­cial and give explor­ers a chance to not only won­der amidst these beau­ti­ful and his­toric cities – but also snap some incred­i­ble pho­tos of the great archi­tec­ture. Chief among these sites are the incred­i­ble reg­is­tan, Shah-i-Zin­da tombs and the great Gur Emir Mau­soleum of Samarkand, the mighty bazar and Amir Temur square and mosque of Tashkent and of course the sand coloured Great Minaret of the Kalon, chor-minor and Mir-i-Arab Madrasa of Bukhara – all of which make for stun­ning pho­tos. While it is a lit­tle bit of a trek between the cities – and you’ll need a car to make the most of these incred­i­ble cities – we’d real­ly encour­age you to fac­tor in a cou­ple of days to explore each city where incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture and his­to­ry awaits you, as too do some incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties to cap­ture the true essence of the silk road.  

- The Aral Sea – the sea of islands, the Aral sea once stood as one of the great seas on the plan­et, but sad­ly due to a com­bi­na­tion of evap­o­ra­tion, human inter­fer­ence and glob­al warm­ing, this sea shrank to become two giant lakes, the Small Sea found in Kaza­khstan and the South Aral Sea in Uzbek­istan. Con­sid­ered home to the worlds worst human envi­ron­men­tal dis­as­ter – as a result of human irri­ga­tion projects which saw the lake run dry, the North Sea in Kaza­khstan is slow­ly com­ing back to life, yet in Uzbek­istan times have been a lit­tle bit hard­er, and a vis­it here com­bines a com­bi­na­tion of dried riv­er planes, with aban­doned boats and wildlife – all of which com­bine to present  a fas­ci­nat­ing and mov­ing spot to vis­it and pho­to­graph – and a remind of the fragili­ty of life.  

 — The Fer­gana Val­ley – The heart of Islam – the Fer­gana Val­ley once stood as an impor­tant stop on the Silk Road thanks to its mass food and water sup­plies, and now stands as an incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful, large and diverse val­ley which is tru­ly off the beat­en track, and which makes for a fas­ci­nat­ing and beau­ti­ful val­ley to explore. A val­ley which should be explored with cau­tion – with the val­ley hav­ing been the sight of mul­ti­ple con­flicts over the course of the last 2,000 years – you can expect to encounter mul­ti­ple eth­nic groups on your jour­ney across the val­ley – with the Fer­gana val­ley being not only a place to explore the true beau­ty and cul­ture of the silk road, but also a place to explore your­self – as well as snap incred­i­ble pho­tos of the val­leys, lakes, moun­tains and cul­tures that call this incred­i­ble val­ley home.  

 A tru­ly spe­cial region – and undoubt­ed­ly one of the most untapped but sim­ply stun­ning places in the world to pho­to­graph – the diverse and beau­ti­ful land­scapes – from the great steppes to the Pamir high­way, com­bined with the fas­ci­nat­ing and his­to­ry rich cities spread across the silk road, along­side the burn­ing nat­ur­al won­ders – undoubt­ed­ly make the won­der of the silk road a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream – and while it’s very unlike­ly you’ll be able to hit every incred­i­ble pho­to­genic spot across the silk road, head­ing to the top three in each of the amaz­ing coun­tries that make up the core of Cen­tral Asia will give you a chance to not only pho­to­graph the absolute best of this incred­i­ble region – but allow you to expe­ri­ence the absolute best of the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the silk road.