Amirsoy & Chimgan Mountain Escape

You arrive in Tashkent, where our driver meets you in the arrivals hall and transfers you to your hotel; check-in is available from 14:00. The rest of the day is yours to recover from the flight. If you are up to it, your driver can take you out in the evening for a first look at the capital — the illuminated facade of the Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre, the fountains on Amir Timur Square and the wide, tree-lined avenues that make Tashkent one of the greenest cities in Central Asia. Overnight in Tashkent.

After breakfast you meet your guide for a full day in the capital. You begin at the Courage Monument, raised in memory of the 1966 earthquake, then continue into the Old City and the Khast-Imam Complex, with the Barak-Khan Madrasah, the Tillya-Sheikh Mosque and the mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi. You walk through Chorsu Bazaar under its great ribbed dome, then ride the Tashkent Metro — one of the most beautifully decorated systems in the world — into the modern centre for the State Museum of Applied Arts and Amir Timur Square.

At 09:00 you leave Tashkent for the Chimgan Mountains (80 km, 1.5–2 hours), the road climbing past villages, orchards and mountain streams. At the Amirsoy bottom station you board the Amirsoy Express cable car for the fifteen-minute ride up to the main resort, then change to a second gondola for the Kumbel Ridge at 2,300 metres. From the viewing deck the surrounding ridges lie open in front of you, with Big Chimgan rising to 3,309 metres. You have lunch and free time at the resort before transferring to your hotel in Chimgan.

A slower mountain morning. You transfer to the Chimgan camp site at the foot of the range, where you can ride horses along the gorge or simply walk in the juniper meadows. After lunch you drive on to the Charvak Reservoir viewpoint (37 km, 45 minutes), stopping at the Bochka parking area for snacks and dried fruit on the way. The reservoir is a startling turquoise against bare rock, and the light in the late afternoon is the best of the day for photographs. You then return to Tashkent (90 km, 1.5 hours) for your final night.

You check out of your hotel at noon. Depending on the timing of your flight there is free time for last souvenirs — Rishtan ceramics, suzani embroidery or a bag of Chorsu dried apricots — before your driver transfers you to Tashkent International Airport. Your guide will help with check-in formalities if needed. This is the end of your Amirsoy and Chimgan Mountain Escape with Naseem's Travel.