There are few regions on earth that combine the weight of history, the sweep of untamed landscapes, and the enigma of cultural endurance quite like Central Asia. It is a place shaped as much by the rhythm of camels’ hooves as by the ambitions of empires — from Alexander the Great to the Soviets. Once the beating heart of the Silk Road, Central Asia remains a tapestry of the ancient and the improbable: blue-tiled cities in the desert, yurts beneath glacial peaks, and markets that have never ceased humming since the days of Tamerlane. We’ll follow in the ancient footsteps of Marco Polo and countless caravans that once traversed the legendary Silk Road.
Our ‘Secrets of the Silk Road – The Five Stans’ Small Group Tour and Conference sees us travelling to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan in September 2026.
The journey begins in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s elegant former capital, framed by the jagged Tien Shan range and brimming with post-Soviet charm. Almaty remains Kazakhstan’s cultural soul — a city of parks and fountains, of Orthodox domes and Brutalist monuments, where the ghosts of tsars, commissars and steppe khans still wander beneath the linden trees.
A short drive away, the land cleaves open in a breath taking act of geological theatre. Charyn Canyon, known as Kazakhstan’s Grand Canyon, rises in jagged fluted cliffs of rust and rose where wind-carved cliffs and glowing ochre walls offer a surreal introduction to the region’s vast and varied topography. The silence here is monastic, broken only by the cry of an eagle or the slow, rhythmic carving of air through stone.
From Kazakhstan the road curves southward into the mountain republic of Kyrgyzstan, you’ll encounter a very different rhythm — one shaped by nomadic traditions and dramatic mountain landscapes. In the valleys near the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, ancient petroglyphs and silk-spun legends linger in the air. You’ll visit open-air markets, spend time in traditional yurt camps, and witness eagle hunters practicing skills passed down through generations. The hospitality here is as enduring as the snow on the mountains — warm, proud, and always offered with a bowl of kumis or hot tea. 
As the land rises once again into the Fann Mountains, we enter Tajikistan, the least visited and perhaps most hauntingly beautiful of the Five Stans. Here, Persian culture lingers in the architecture and language, a remnant of the Samanid Empire that once ruled from Bukhara to the Indus. Dushanbe, the capital, was once a Monday market village; today, its broad avenues and statues of poets like Rudaki speak to a people who see their past not just in ruins, but in verse. In the high mountain passes, the wind carries old Zoroastrian hymns, and the lakes reflect a sky untouched by time.
And then the land opens into Uzbekistan, the beating heart of Central Asian civilisation, where every city is a manuscript of Islamic art and imperial ambition. Few cities in the Islamic world possess the majesty of Samarkand, where Tamerlane — Timur the Lame — envisioned a capital to rival Persepolis and Baghdad. His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, capped with a fluted dome of celestial blue, still exudes imperial gravitas. On the Registan, scholars once debated astronomy and theology under stars that seemed closer here than anywhere else. It was here that Ulugh Beg, Timur’s grandson, constructed an observatory in the 15th century so precise it measured the solar year to within seconds — centuries before Europe caught up.
In Bukhara, where every brick seems steeped in Sufi mysticism and empire, you’ll walk in the footsteps of Avicenna, the great polymath of the Islamic Golden Age. In the shadow of the Kalon Minaret, once so tall that Genghis Khan is said to have spared it from destruction, you’ll explore madrashas where Persian poetry and Islamic jurisprudence were once taught with equal reverence. The city’s vast urban fabric — caravanserais, hammams, and mosques — testifies to Bukhara’s status as a “Pillar of Islam” and a vital hub on the transcontinental trade route that stitched together China and the Mediterranean. 
In Khiva, the past has not so much receded as settled into a kind of eternal amber. Within its mud-brick walls, preserved as if time itself took a breath, you’ll encounter tales of slave markets, Silk Road diplomacy, and the last gasps of independent khanates before Russian annexation. It was here in 1840 that British officer Captain James Abbot arrived under cover of darkness on an ill-fated diplomatic mission — one of many shadowy manoeuvres in the Great Game, the espionage struggle between Tsarist Russia and British India that once consumed this entire region.
The journey continues with a Post Tour across the border in Turkmenistan, a nation of contradictions and extremes. In the empty desert stands the Darvaza Gas Crater, a fire pit that has been burning for over 50 years — created when Soviet engineers accidentally collapsed a gas pocket and decided, in a moment of Cold War logic, to set it alight. Locals call it the Door to Hell — and it does not feel like a metaphor.
You then arrive in Ashgabat, the capital fashioned almost entirely from white marble, built with the bravado of oil wealth and the isolation of autocracy. The city holds the Guinness World Record for the highest concentration of marble buildings on earth. Under the rule of the late Saparmurat Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmenbashi, ‘Father of the Turkmen’, Ashgabat was transformed into a surreal monument to his own cult of personality. The city is dotted with gold statues of Turkmenbashi, one of which once rotated to follow the sun, and streets were renamed after members of his family. Yet beneath this curated strangeness is a deep, layered history. The ancient city of Merv, once a Silk Road metropolis that rivalled Baghdad and Constantinople in scale, lies in ruins nearby — its eroded domes and collapsed madrassas bearing witness to the day in 1221 when Genghis Khan’s son Tolui slaughtered its inhabitants in what was likely the deadliest single day of killing in pre-modern history.
‘The Secrets of the Silk Road – The Five Stans’ itinerary is an immersive expedition traversing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. This unparalleled journey offers exceptional value for money through an in-depth exploration of a region that remains one of the last great frontiers of the Old World. 
Due to the program’s rich scope and duration, the itinerary is thoughtfully divided into three seperate programs, allowing participants the flexibility to join for part of the tour or to embrace the full experience across all five countries. This approach provides the freedom to tailor your adventure according to your interests and schedule.
This is one of our most unique and adventurous itineraries —an expedition-style voyage that takes you beyond the well-trodden tourist paths.
We encourage all participants who register their interest and wish to embark on this journey to have a spirit of tolerance, patience, and openness. Central Asia is a remote and diverse land where infrastructure is modest compared to Western standards. Factors such as long distances, rich cultural differences and sometimes basic facilities are all part of the experience. An adventurous spirit and a good level of fitness are essential to fully appreciate the extraordinary rewards this journey offers.
The all-inclusive nature of our travel programs means that not only is the cost of the best available accommodation wherever possible already covered but so too are all the entrance fees and touring costs. We also incorporate many specially arranged activities not available to the general public. The travel program also includes all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with us taking great care to ensure those with special dietary requirements are well looked after.
Expertly curated by our staff, every detail in the itineraries has been meticulously crafted to ensure… it’s not just a conference, it’s an experience!
We certainly hope you can join us as we travel through the Central Asia region in September 2026.
Register your ‘Expression of Interest’ today to ensure that you’re the first notified when registrations for this tour open.
