Samarkand Short Break

You arrive in Tashkent, where our driver meets you and transfers you to your hotel; check-in is available from 14:00. The afternoon is yours to shake off the flight. In the evening your guide can take you on a short orientation walk through the modern centre — the facade of the Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre, the fountains of Amir Timur Square and a first ride on the Tashkent Metro, whose stations are decorated in marble, ganch and cut glass. Overnight in Tashkent.

An early transfer to the railway station for the Afrosiyob high-speed train to Samarkand, a journey of about two hours ten minutes across the steppe. Your Samarkand guide and driver meet you at the station and you begin straight away at Registan Square, the heart of the medieval city, flanked by the Ulugbek, Sher-Dor and Tilla-Kari madrasahs. You continue to the ribbed dome of the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, where Amir Timur is buried, then to the huge portal of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque and the fruit and spice stalls of Siab Bazaar.

This morning you climb the tiled stairway of the Shakhi-Zinda Necropolis, an avenue of mausoleums built for the nobility of Samarkand over three centuries, then visit the Ulugbek Observatory, where the preserved arc of a 15th-century sextant is cut into the bedrock. You continue to the Afrasiab Museum, built over the ruins of the pre-Mongol city, and the Tomb of Saint Daniel above the Siab stream. In the afternoon you drive to Konigil village to see Samarkand paper made from mulberry bark, exactly as it was a thousand years ago.

You check out of your hotel in the morning. Depending on the time of your flight there is a last chance to walk back to the Registan, which is at its best in early light and almost empty, or to browse the ceramics and suzani stalls on the alley beside it. You then transfer to the station for the Afrosiyob train back to Tashkent and continue to Tashkent International Airport for your departure. This is the end of your Samarkand Short Break with Naseem's Travel.