Uzbekistan: Heart of Central Asia

Arrive in Tashkent and check in to your hotel.. Enjoy an afternoon tour of the capital, stopping at the medieval Khast Imaan Complex, and the newly appointed UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Chorsu Bazaar's and the resplendent, Soviet-era Kosmonavtlar metro station.

Transfer to the airport and take a one-hour morning flight to Urgench. Visit the ancient fortresses of Ayaz-Kala and Toprak-Kala before an afternoon drive to Khiva via Ulli Khovli. Stay 2 nights at the Bankir Hotel (or similar).

Enjoy a full-day tour of Khiva, to see the Kunya Ark, Islam Khoja minaret, Tash Hauli palace and visit a local bakery.

Take the Jaloliddin Manguberdi highspeed train to Bukhara. Later, check into your hotel.

Tour of the city, visiting Chor Minor mosque, the Poi-Kalyan complex, the surviving trading domes, and Lyab-i-Hauz – once the city's principal source of water. In the evening, enjoy dinner and a plov cooking demonstration.

Continue your tour of Bukhara, with visits to The Ark, a vast fortress whose foundations date back 2,000 years; the summer palace of the city's final emir; and the 10th century Samanid mausoleum, decorated with of Zoroastrian symbols.

Drive to Shahrisabz, birthplace of Timur, and visit the summer palace, mosques and mausoleums. Continue to Samarkand.

Take a full-day tour of Samarkand, visiting Registan Square, the Ulugbek observatory, Siyob Bazaar, Hazrat Khizr Mosque, and the Bibi Khanum mosque.

Continue your tour of Samarkand. Visit the Gur-Emir mausoleum, the final resting place of several members of the Timurid dynasty, including Timur himself. Other sights include Afrasiab Museum, Shah-iZinda necropolis and the Khodja Doniyor mausoleum. After lunch, stop in at a silk carpet factory before returning to your hotel for the evening.

Enjoy a later start, then visit one of Samarkand's renowned silk paper workshops and join a wine tasting. Later, travel by rail to Tashkent.

Tour ends in Tashkent.