Classic Uzbekistan

You are met at Tashkent International Airport by your driver and transferred to the hotel, with check-in from early afternoon. Once you have met your guide, sightseeing begins at the Courage Monument, which commemorates the earthquake of 1966, before you continue into the old city for the Mausoleum of Kaffal Shashi and the Khast-Imam Complex. You then explore Chorsu Bazaar under its great blue dome, ride the decorated Tashkent Metro into the modern centre, visit the State Museum of Applied Arts and finish at Amir Timur Square.

After an early transfer to the railway station you board the high-speed Afrosiyob train, which covers the 300 km to Samarkand in a little over two hours. Your guide and driver meet you on the platform and the city tour begins the same morning. You visit the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, where Timur is buried, then the vast Registan Square with its three facing madrasahs, the remains of the Bibi-Khanum Mosque and the stalls of Siab Bazaar next door, piled with bread, spices and dried fruit. Overnight in Samarkand.

A second day in Samarkand, beginning with the Shakhi-Zinda Necropolis, an avenue of tiled tombs climbing the hillside, and the Ulugbek Observatory, where the buried arc of a fifteenth-century sextant survives. You continue to the Afrasiab Museum and the archaeological site beside it, where the seventh-century murals were found, and to the Tomb of Saint Daniel. In the afternoon you drive out to Konigil village to watch mulberry bark being turned into Samarkand paper by hand. Free time in the evening.

This morning you drive south over the mountain pass to Shakhrisabz, Timur's birthplace, about an hour and a half away. You see the towering remains of the Ak-Saray Palace, which took twenty-four years to build, the Dor-us Saodat complex with the mausoleum of his sons Jahongir and Omar-Shaykh, the Dor-ut Tilavat ensemble where his father is buried, and the blue-domed Kok-Gumbaz Mosque. On the way back you stop at the pass for lunch and the local tandoor-roasted lamb. Return to Samarkand in the late afternoon.

After breakfast you leave Samarkand and drive west to Bukhara, some 280 km and around four hours across open steppe, stopping on the way at the eleventh-century Rabat-i-Malik caravanserai, of which the great portal still stands. You check in and spend the afternoon in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, walking between the Kalyan Minaret, the Kalyan Mosque and the Miri-Arab Madrasah, the Magoki-Attori Mosque, the madrasahs of Ulugbek and Abdulazizkhan, the covered trade domes and the pool at Lyabi-Khauz.

A full day in Bukhara on foot and by car. You begin at the Ark Fortress, the emirs' citadel above the square, then cross to the Bolo-Khauz Mosque with its painted wooden columns and continue to the Chashma-Ayub mausoleum and the tenth-century Ismail Samani Mausoleum, the oldest brickwork in the city. In the afternoon you drive out to Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, the last emir's summer palace, where oriental and Russian styles meet, and to the Mausoleum of Bakhouddin Naqshbandi. Free time in the evening.

There is time in the morning for the four-turreted Chor-Minor Madrasah, tucked away in a residential lane, and for the trade domes if you want to look for suzani embroidery, carpets or the scissors the local smiths are known for. In the afternoon you transfer to Bukhara railway station for the high-speed train back to Tashkent, where your driver meets you and takes you to the hotel. The evening is free for a last dinner in the capital.

Check-out from the hotel is at noon, with free time until your transfer. Depending on your flight, you may have a few hours to browse ceramics and silk at a craft gallery, walk the shaded avenues around Amir Timur Square or visit the Islamic Civilisation Centre on your own. Your driver then takes you to Tashkent International Airport for departure, and your eight-day journey through Uzbekistan comes to an end.