Take this tour to admire the highlights of uzbekistan. Immerse in the history of the most ancient towns of the world - Samarkand, Bukhara and the atmospheric city Khiva. Enjoy private transfers with private vehicles and drivers, and city tours with private English speaking guides, taking you to the world famous monuments of ancient architecture, built by Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Visit the cities, once the centre of vast medieval Tamerlane's Empire. Enjoy the tall and elegant minarets, grandiose madrassahs and mosques, medieval palaces and mausoleums decorated with incredibly rich ceramic ornaments, bustle and colors of oriental bazaars, thrilling legends, warm hospitality and hoary traditions of local people will leave indelible imprints in your memory. Take a flight back from Khiva to Tashkent.

Day 1
Tashkent
Kensington Tours donates a portion of our proceeds to our charitable initiative www.kensingtoncares.com which supports education-based initiatives in disadvantaged communities. In order to process the Uzbekistan visa, a letter of confirmation to the services booked will be provided by the Kensington sales team. Airport transfer with private vehicle and English speaking guide. Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). Markaziy Hotel (former Sheraton) is 10 km from Tashkent international airport and centrally located in the business and shopping district. A perfect choice for a business traveler, Tashkent Hotels and Towers offers extensive meeting and conference facilities accommodating up to 200 persons. The hotel features 6 restaurants, two mirrored pools and one covered heated pool, Jacuzzi, Turkish bath, sauna, tennis court and gym.

Tashkent is the capital city of Uzbekistan. It is an ancient city on the Great Silk Road from China to Europe. Little remain of the ancient city, after it suffered the 1966 earthquake and earlier modernisation work following the 1917 revolution. Tashkent has a Soviet charactor that has little remaining from its ancient Central Asian past. Over the last few years the Uzbek government has embarked on a major reconstruction program in the centre of the city.

Day 2
Tashkent - Samarkand
Enjoy a private transfer to Samarkand, with private vehicle and driver (350 km, approx 5 hrs) Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Take a half day private tour with your private vehicle and English speaking guide to see Samarkan'ds impressive sights. Start with the Registan square, known as the "heart" of Samarkand. It is an ensemble of 3 majestic madrassahs (traditional colldges) the Sherdor, Ulugbek and Tillya Qory. Continue to visiit the Guri-Emir mausoleum of Timur (Tamerlan), his sons, and Ulugbek the grandson. Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). The hotel is located 10min away from Registan Square, which is Samarkand city center. The hotel was built in luxury style and really deserves its 4* ranking. The hotel runs 60 comfortable rooms and 4 apartments. There are 2 elevators from where you have a panorama view to the surrounding area and then will be lifted to the bar. There are 2 restaurants, Maveranahr on the 1st floor and Sky Star on the 6th floor where you can enjoy various dishes of a local and European cuisine. You can use a fitness-center “Olimpiya” at the hotel, where you can find the latest models of gym staff, sauna and hydro-massage. Samarkand, is perhaps the most famous city of modern Uzbekistan. The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site of Samarkand was settled about 2000 BC. The city was the capital of Sogdiana, an ancient Persian province, and was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BC. It subsequently grew as a trade center on the Silk Road, the great trading route between China and the Mediterranean region. In the early 8th century AD, it was conquered by the Arabs and soon became an important center of Muslim culture. In 1220 Samarkand was almost completely destroyed by the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. It flourished again when Timur-i-Leng made it the capital of his empire in 1369. As his capital Timur put Samarkand on the world map and much of the architecture visible today was built by him or his descendants. The empire declined in the 15th century, and nomadic Uzbeks took Samarkand in 1500. In 1784 the emirate of Bukhara conquered it.

Day 3
Samarkand
Take a full day private tour to discover the treasures of Samarkand, with your private English speaking guide. Start with the Bibi-Khanum, the gigantic congregational mosque (XV c.). Continue with a visit to Tamerlan’s grandson, Ulugbek’s (the well-known ruler and astronomer-scientist)observatory (dating to 1420). Explore the remains of an immense (30 m. tall) astrolabe for observing stars position. Tour the Shakhi-Zind- one of the most stunning architectural ensemble of Samarkand-Shakhi-Zinda necropolis. It consists of 11 mausoleums, built on to each other during 14-15th centuries in series, consisting of superb decorated mausoleums, and exotic Siab bazaar. Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Enjoy a traditional Uzbekistani folklore show of dances and music. Overnight at The Regal Palace (4*).

Day 4
Samarkand - Bukhara
Take a private transfer to Bukhara with private vehicle and driver. En route, take a tour of Shakhrisabz, the hometown of Amir Temur: Kok-Gumbaz mosque (XV c.), Dorus-Saodat and Dorut-Tilavat (XIV c.) complexes. Shakhrisabz, the birthplace of Tamerlane, 160 km from Samarkand, is located in a small valley, surrounded by the foothills of the Pamir mountains. Among the architectural monuments of Tamerlane's time there are the remains of the massive portal of the Ak - Saray Palace, which took 20 years to build and was destroyed by Abdulla Khan of Bukhara in the XVII century. The Dorussiadat Burial Complex includes a mausoleum for two of Tamerlane's sons, Jahangir and Umar Sheikh, is an outstanding example of Khorazmian architecture, built by Khorazmian slaves in the second half of the XIV century. Also here is a mausoleum built for Tamerlane himself several years before his death. The walls of the crypt are very simply decorated with design in the shape of a teardrop. Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). Asia Bukhara Hotel was built in 2006 in the historical part of the ancient Bukhara. It is part of popular hotel chain in Uzbekistan, represented also in Ferghana and Khiva cities. Within a walking distance from the hotel you will find buildings and monuments of the old Bukhara that date back to 12-16th centuries. Individually designed comfortable rooms and experienced staff will make your stay very pleasant. The services and equipment of the Hotel match what is offered by the best luxury hotel in Bukhara. Hotel offers conference rooms, swimming pool, gym, sauna, massage room.

Bokhara was historically one of the great trading cities along the Silk Road. The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia and the city itself has existed for half that time. Thanks to its location on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion

Day 5
Bukhara
Bukhara is one of the most ancient cities of Uzbekistan, situated on a sacred hill, once a large commercial center on the Great Silk Road. There are more than 350 mosques and 100 religious colleges in the city, and more than 140 architectural monuments, making it a "town museum" dating back to the Middle Ages. The city consists of narrow streets, green parks and gardens, historical and architectural monuments belong to the different epochs. Enjoy a full day tour to see the most significant monuments with your private English speaking guide: Chashma Ayub Mazar (graveyard), Poi-Kalan complex, Miri-Arab madrassah, Lyabi-Hauz complex, the Mausoleum of Samanids, Nadir Divanbegi Madrassah, Ark -the ancient fortress, and the Chor-Minor minaret. Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). Overnight at Asia Bukhara (4*).

Day 6
Bukhara - Khiva
Drive through Kyzyl-Kum desert to Khiva with your private vehicle and driver. This is a 500 km journey, and would last apprx. 8 hrs. En route a short stop for walking along Kyzyl-Kum desert and on a picturesque bank of Amudarya river. Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). Hotel Asia-Khiva near the Tash Darbaza (Stone gate), to the old city. The 32 hotel rooms are fully equipped with Air conditioning, mini bar, satellite TV, room service, bathtub (or shower cabins), hair dryer, International dialing is available from the room telephones. Khiva is a town in the western province of Khorezm in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Along with Samarkand and Bukhara, Khiva is an important historical site on what was once the Great Silk Road . Famous for it's long and brutal history as a slave trading post sandwiched in between the vast Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts, Khiva is now a quiet oasis. The clustered array of mosques, madrassahs and tiled minarets within an area of less than 3km give you a sense of how crowded and bustling this town must have been throughout it's history. Khiva is divided into two distinct sections; one being the older, museum-like Ichon-Qala (literally: within the wall) where striking examples of Islamic architecture were built over the span of 600 years; and the modern Dichon-Qala (literally: outside the wall) where both the majority of the population live and where all of the modern buildings exist. Today, the entire city is home to about 40,000 people. It is located 35km from the regional capital of Urgench and 5km from the Turkmenistan border.

Day 7
Khiva
Discover Khiva with your private English speaking guide. Khiva is a town that can be easily explored by foot. The Ichan-Kala the "city-museum" is on open-air, protected by UNESCO.On the 16th century, Timur made Khiva the capital of the Khorezm state and, rivalling the Mervi and Bukharan Dynasties, the city become a major state under the Shaybaids and pivot of the khanate for the next three centuries. Khiva's historic centre, unlike those of other Central Asian cities, is preserved in its entirety. Khiva's visual surprise, after Samarkand's blue and Bukhara's brown, is the use of turquoise tiles, and some parts of the the walled inner city remain inhabited. Morning and evening are especially atmospherice to experience Khiva. Continue to see the Kalta-Minor minaret, Kunya Ark fortress - a former residence of Khiva khans, Pakhlavan Mahmud - the complex of the national hero and poet, Islam Khodja madrassah and minaret, Juma mosque, Tash-Hauli and Allakuli Khan palaces, and conclude at the Enjoy lunch at leisure (not included in tour price). Enjoy dinner at leisure (not included in tour price). Overnight at Asia Khiva (3*).

Day 8
Khiva
Airport transfer with private vehicle and driver. Depart from International Airport. End of itinerary.