Cycling adventure on the Silk Road
Route: Khiva - Bukhara - Guijdouvan - Samarkand - Tashkent
Duration: 
8 days - 
7 nights
Traveling to Uzbekistan is a discovery of the legendary cities of the Great Silk Road. This mythical route, an ancient network of commercial routes, counted as important steps the historical cities: Samarkand the majestic, Bukhara the holy and Khiva the city with a thousand domes...
With its monuments inscribed on the patrimony of humanity, Uzbekistan is also a destination towards luxuriant oases and valleys, towards traditions and ancestral customs, towards a welcoming and warm people brewed for millennia.
We propose you to borrow the ribbon of asphalt by combining the bus and the bicycle in order to be closest to your quest...
PARIS - URGENCH
Fly to Urgench by Uzbekistan Airways. Dinner and overnight on board.
Urgench - Khiva
Arrival in Urgench at 06:10. Welcome by your guide at Urgench international airport. Departure to Khiva (30km). Check-in at the hotel. Breakfast.
Guided tour in the old part of Khiva, “Ichan-Kala”.
“Ichan-Kala” - open-air museum city, is the pearl of the desert. It is the best preserved fortress in the area with its beautiful monuments and blue domes.
Start the tour at the main gate, Ata-Darvoza, West gate.
Visit the Muhammad Aminkhan Medressa with its minaret Kalta Minor, which has beautiful blue majolica tiles. Visit the old citadel, Kohna Ark.
Lunch in a traditional restaurant.
Continuation of the sightseeing tour: Muhammad Rahimkhan Medressa, the mausoleums of Sayyid Alaouddin and Pahlavan Mahmoud, Islam Khodja Medressa with its Minaret, Friday Mosque, the Karavanserai, Tosh Havli Palace and Harem.
Dinner in a traditional restaurant. Overnight at the hotel.
Khiva - Bukhara
Breakfast at the hotel.
At 09:00 gathering in front of the main gate Ata Darvoza and start cycling. Take the direction "Eshan Ravat", the recreational site located 10 km from Khiva. We cross the villages, the farmlands and the gardens in the outskirts of Khiva.
"Eshan Ravat" is where the two great deserts meet - Kyzylkum (Red Sand) and Karakum (Black Sand).
On the spot, after having a rest, take a time for entertainment: camel ride, fishing, scooter ride on the lake ...
On the lunch menu, fish caught by our "fishing tourists".
After lunch, drive to Bukhara.
Arrival in Bukhara at the end of the day. Check-in at the guest house. Free time. Dinner and overnight at the guest house.
Bukhara
Breakfast at the hotel.
Guided tour of Bukhara: visit the citadel Ark, residence of the governors from the 7th century until the dissolvement of the Emirate of Bukhara, early 20th century. The Bolo-Havouz Mosque, the Chashma Ayub Mausoleum, the Kalon Mosque.
Lunch in a traditional restaurant.
Continuation of the tour.
Labi-Havuz, the famous water basin of Bukhara. The Medressas of Kukaldash and Devonbegi. The Chor Minor towers, the Samanid Mausoleum...
Dinner in a traditional restaurant. Overnight at the hotel.
Bukhara - Gijduvan - Samarkand
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure for Gijduvan (50 km). This town is well known for its carpets, its ceramics, and its cuisine...
Arrival in Gijduvan, we start pedaling.
Visit the workshop of the ceramist Abdulla Narzullaev.
At lunch, "Gijduvan Kebab", meat skewer in Gijduvan way.
After lunch, departure to Samarkand by bus.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Samarkand
Breakfast at the hotel.
Discovery Samarkand: visit the majestic Registan Square, the Guri Emir Mausoleum, the Shahi Zinda Necropolis.
Lunch in a traditional restaurant.
Continuation of the tour in Samarkand: the Ulugbek Observatory, the Hazrati Hizr Mosque, the Bibi Khanoum Mosque, the Samarkand Market.
Dinner in a traditional restaurant. Overnight at the hotel.
Samarkand - Tashkent
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to Tashkent by bus.
Arrival in the late morning. Check-in at the hotel. Lunch.
After lunch, guided tour of the city of Tashkent: the Timurides Museum, the opera and ballet Theatre Alisher Navoiy, the Khasti Imam Square with the Barakhan Medina and the Tilla Sheyk Mosque.
Then, visit the old and new part of the capital by bus, where you can see the mix of cultures and beliefs. Visit its colourful and buzzling markets.
Dinner in a panoramic restaurant. A short bike ride in the capital.
Overnight at the hotel.
Tashkent - Paris
Breakfast at the hotel. Short visit to the oriental bazaar, Charsu.
Lunch in a traditional restaurant (depending on flight schedules).
Transfer to the Tashkent International airport. Departure for Paris.