The Five Stans of the Silk Road - Almaty to Ashgabat

Our tour of the Five Stans starts in Almaty. The former Kazakh capital has the Tien Shan mountains as its backdrop and is the most European city in Central Asia with leafy streets and a cafe culture. After an early check-in to our hotel, we have time for rest before meeting around 12.30pm. Say hi to your leader and fellow travellers, when we gather as a group to get to know each other and learn more about the adventures ahead. We'll set off for our city tour afterwards. Visit a number of sites, including Panfilovs Park, home to the Piously-Voznesenskiy Orthodox Cathedral (1907), which was built without any nails; a memorial to victims of the Second World War and the Republic Square, plus the National History Museum and the Museum of National Instruments. This evening your tour leader ensures a big welcome by arranging a group dinner together. Want extra time in Almaty? Secure pre-tour hotel nights through your sales representative.

After breakfast, we transfer to Medeo Gorge, around 15mi (25km) from Almaty at 2,000m (6,560ft) above sea level, which hosts the world’s highest mountain skating rink and the largest ski resort in the region. Along the way, we stop by a well-known dam that protects the city from avalanches and mudslides, which commonly cascade from the slopes. We also take a cable car to the top to enjoy a panoramic view of the Tien Shan mountains (sometimes the cable car is closed for maintenance; when this occurs, we’re usually able to travel up to the base station by electric vehicle but not get to the top). After, we return to Almaty and take another cable car at Kok-Tobe recreational area to the top of Kok-Tobe hill to enjoy panoramic views of Almaty and the city’s surroundings. After returning to our hotel mid-afternoon, we have free time to relax before an early start for the next leg of our tour tomorrow.

After an early start, we head towards the Black Canyon and Charyn River, where the dramatic erosion caused by the river has created an impressive landscape. We have some time to observe the beginning of Charyn and Moon Canyons from different viewpoints, as well as a short walk and time for photographs. We'll eat a picnic lunch in the canyon (you can buy your picnic from a supermarket earlier in the day). We cross the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border, a checkpoint that may take up to two hours for processing. After border formalities, we proceed to Karakol along the picturesque Karkara valley, famous for its mountain flowers that attract many beekeepers. We expect to check into our hotel in Karakol around 5pm. There are about six hours of driving today.

Begin the day in Karakol, where timber houses and wide streets recall the era of Tsarist Russia, and our tour leader guides us to the 1886 Holy Trinity Church, the nail-free Dungan mosque (1899), and the local bazaar for a glimpse of everyday life. We then travel west (five to six hours total driving today), skirting the southern shore of Issyk Kul Lake. This vast body of water – 43mi by 112mi (70km by 180km) and close to 2,300ft (700m) deep – never freezes thanks to a mix of salinity and geothermal activity. Partway around the shore, we stop in Bokonbaev for a demonstration of berkutchi, the traditional art of hunting with golden eagles. This centuries-old skill is passed between generations, and your tour leader interprets the techniques and significance of this partnership between bird and handler. A little farther on, in Kyzyl Tuu village, we meet craftspeople who specialise in making yurts; here we watch how the wooden frame is assembled – an intricate process still used by nomadic families. Our day ends in the Chon-Kemin Valley, a quiet stretch of farmland and forested slopes, where we settle into our guesthouse and enjoy the mountain setting.

After breakfast, we head to Bishkek, the modern capital city and industrial centre of Kyrgyzstan. Along the way we stop at an 11th-century Karakhanid minaret – Burana Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the first minaret of its kind in Central Asia. You can climb to the top of the tower. Take care, it’s quite dark inside and the stairs are steep and narrow. We visit the museum complex, including the tower itself, reconstructions of mausoleums found on the site, remains of a citadel, balbals (gravestones used by nomadic Turkic peoples) and petroglyphs. After arriving in Bishkek, we check into our hotel.

Bishkek, at the foothill of the magnificent Kyrgyz Ala-Tau mountains, is a city of many green parks and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet heritage buildings and houses. It is laid out in a grid pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees. The city is believed to be the greenest in Central Asia with more trees per head of population than any other. After breakfast, set out on a sightseeing tour that takes us to the main city sites, including the State History Museum; the Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts; Ala-Too Square, the most important square in the country; and Oak Park, one of the oldest parks in Bishkek.

We have an early start today before a long but scenic drive along the spectacular Bishkek-Osh highway through the central Tien Shan mountains to Jalal-Abad. We drive through picturesque canyons and gorges and around Toktogul Reservoir with its cascade of hydroelectric power stations. We continue over Ala-Bel (3,120m/10,235ft) and Tyua-Ashuu (3,050m/10,005ft) mountain passes, along the picturesque Suusamyr mountain valley. In summer, the valley is dotted with hundreds of yurts, and serves as a pasture for countless herds of cattle. Here, local people produce Kyrgyz national drink, kumus (fermented mare’s milk), sour cheese and butter that they sell along the road. There are about nine hours of driving today.