Gateway to the Past: Ashgabat to Almaty

DAY 1 – WELCOME TO ASHGABAT

You land where mountains meet the desert, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s extraordinary capital city. Soon you’re traveling along newly-built boulevards, past golden domes and marble monoliths to your hotel. Rest and take your bearings. Tomorrow you will explore Kazakhstan’s vibrant young capital.

Overnight: Hotel Ashgabat (or similar).

DAY 2 – ASHGABAT AND ANCIENT NISA

Amid the early morning bustle, you dive into the vast, dizzying delights of a typical Central Asian market. Scents mingle: rugs, piled spices, sheepskin, sizzling street food. Soon you leave the day’s deals behind and head to the ruins of ancient Nisa and its relics in the National Museum. After lunch, you tour Ashgabat, its new marble buildings a gleaming display of the city’s oil wealth.

In the evening, you board your private train and find your luggage ready and waiting in your personal compartment. You unpack and relax, then head for the dining car.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 3 – MERV, THE ANCIENT PEARL OF THE EAST

At daybreak, your private train draws into the ancient oasis of Merv. In the twelfth-century, this was one of the largest cities in the world. Nourished by the Silk Road, its fame crossed continents. Now you stand surrounded by imposing ruins that rise up from the desert sand, and crumbling arches framing a bright blue sky. You walk among the relics of this UNESCO World Heritage site, including the gigantic Tomb of Ahmed Sanjar, the Virgin Fortress and the cold room, and are invited to lunch in the courtyard of a family home. Next stop: Bukhara.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 4 – BUKHARA, THE NOBLE

Beneath the imposing yellow brickwork of the Kaljan minaret, you gaze at the magnificent gateways on either side of the courtyard, each a heady cocktail of intricate tilework and grand design. This is only a first glimpse of old Bukhara, a site of UNESCO World Heritage holding a miraculous city-museum of a thousand monuments, each a testimony to the glory days of caravan trade. At the Lyab-i Hauz ensemble, you witness the 500-year-old architectural ingenuity that keeps a pool full in the baking Kysylkum desert. You learn about the satirical Sufi Nasreddin Hodja, watch local dances, listen to exotic Uzbek tunes and have dazzling national costumes paraded in the courtyard of a madrasah.

Overnight: Hotel Asia Bukhara (or similar). (BLD)

DAY 5 – MAUSOLEUM OF THE SAMANID

Another long, glorious, desert day devoted to the infinitely rich Bukhara. From the sumptuous stylings of the Mire-e-Arab Madrasah, you move to the textured geometry of the Samanid Mausoleum regarded by many as the most beautiful and precious building in Central Asia. Then onto the gargantuan, 1,500-year-old Ark fortress, the only women’s mosque in the country. Standing on its vast rampart, you take a last view out over Bukhara, glistening turquoise and yellow in the bright afternoon light. A diamond in the dust.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 6 – FROM BUKHARA TO KHIVA

A last morning exploring the streets of Bukhara before you board the train and depart for Khiva. Spectacular landscapes of steppe, sky, rock and distant mountains scroll by the window.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 7 – A FAIRY TALE OF 1001 NIGHTS

This is Khiva, an ancient city fortress. Beneath the vivid blue glazed bands of the Kalta Minor Minaret, you set out through the sun and shadow of winding streets on a dreamlike tour of the town’s palaces, mosques, mausoleums and madrasah. All inhabited, thriving – a living museum. You lunch in the old Summer Palace of the Emir.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 8 – SAMARQAND, THE ANCIENT

Wealth, conquest and faith intertwine among the splendors of Samarqand, one of the oldest settlements on Earth. At the time of Timur, this was called the most beautiful city in the world. Today, as you stand among the ornate marble pillars and vaults of Registan square or the exquisite glazed tiles of the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, it’s impossible to suppress your sense of wonder. Visiting the Afrasiyab excavation site, you untangle the roots of this astonishing civilization.

Overnight: Registan Plaza Hotel (or similar). (BLD)

DAY 9 – SAMARQAND, THE MAGNIFICENT

Another day to soak up the UNESCO World Heritage site of Samarqand on this train journey. Delve into its Islamic past and sift through its riches. You see Uzbek craftsmen skillfully weave silk into carpets and press paper from mulberry bark, before casting your eyes to the magnificent past at the Ulugh Beg Observatory, the ruins of Bibi Khanum Mosque and the impressive Gur Emir Mausoleum.

Overnight: Registan Plaza Hotel (or similar). (BLD)

DAY 10 – SHAHRISABZ, THE MIGHTY

Under wide blue skies, you explore Shahrisabz, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Timur, the fourteenth-century Mongol conqueror, filled this once-mighty city with grandiose testaments to his earthly power. Now his palaces stand in ruins around you in the bustling market town: crumbling reminders of a lost empire. You experience a folklore performance, and meet some of the locals in a small village. Before night closes in, the train departs, and you join fellow travelers for an Uzbek wine tasting in the dining car.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 11 – TASHKENT, THE GREEN OASIS

Your private train rolls into Tashkent, a city studded with monuments that hark back to the Silk Road. You experience the lush, green oasis of the steppe and tour its caravanserais, fortresses and madrasah—history in earthen brick and turquoise tile. As evening arrives, you depart and travel the Silk Road trail to Kazakhstan.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 12 – NOMAD’S PILGRIMAGE CENTER: TURKESTAN

As you eat breakfast, the glorious steppe unfolds outside the window to the steady beat of the railroad moving along the tracks. Soon you arrive in Turkestan, and stand before the magnificent Mausoleum of Khawaja Ahmed Yasawi, the vast, brightly tiled testament to power and beauty that UNESCO have made a World Heritage site and the Kazakhs revere as their national icon.

It’s your last night on the train and your last dinner in the dining car. You bid a fond farewell to the staff as you roll on towards Almaty.

Overnight on board. (BLD)

DAY 13 – ALMATY—THE FATHER OF APPLES

Standing beneath the brilliantly colored patterns on the Ascension Cathedral, you gaze up at one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. It’s been a day of discovery, strolling through Kazakhstan’s capital of avenues and cafes, framed by the foothills of the Tian Shan mountain range. You see the circus, the wedding palace and the central mosque, and, in the evening eat a farewell dinner in a yurt restaurant.

Overnight/day room: Rahat Palace Hotel (or similar). (BLD)

DAY 14 – ALMATY—AN EPIC JOURNEY COMES TO AN END

You catch the transfer for your flight home, leaving wide blue skies, the open steppe, and epic monuments behind you, laden with unparalleled memories of the Silk Road.

Highlights of the Journey

• Traditional welcome ceremonies in Bukhara and Samarqand.

• Insights into everyday life, witnessing crafts and traditions such as silk carpet weaving.

• The fascinating excavations at ancient Afrosiyab.

• The 600-year-old Ulugh Beg observatory.

• The spectacular nature of the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts and the Tian Shan mountains.

• Tasting sessions for local vodka and Uzbek wine.