We specialize in Central Asia and the Caucasus - the heart of the Great Silk Road
Azerbaijan
Why travel in Azerbaijan?
Neon-pink salt lakes. Bubbling mud volcanoes. Crumbling shrines. Azerbaijan is an offbeat destination just waiting to be explored.
From the oil-rich streets of Baku to the rocky outcrops of Qobustan, Azerbaijan represents the very best of the Caucasus. It’s also laden with relics of the Silk Road – from stunning carpets and delicate kelagayi silk scarves to the famous Karabakh horse.
But don’t take our word for it: go and explore it for yourself on one of our Azerbaijan tours.
Things to do in Azerbaijan
Baku. With its sail-shaped skyscrapers and booming boutiques, Baku is well and truly riding the winds of change. The capital’s sleek art galleries, iconic flame towers and new avant garde waterfront mall are making Baku a magnet for architecture buffs. Yet at Baku’s heart lies the city’s historic citadel.
Wine tasting at a local vineyard. To try and curb alcoholism in Soviet-era Azerbaijan, Gorbachev ordered the destruction of the nation’s vineyards. In recent years, viticulture is making a comeback here, with some exceptionally good results.
Buy a kelagayi. Colourful, hand-printed with Zoroastrian symbols and made from locally produced silk, these traditional Azerbaijani silk scarves are among Azerbaijan’s finest gifts to the world.
Ride a Karabakh horse. Famous for its effortless speed, intelligence and endurance, the Karabakh is the national animal of Azerbaijan. They’re one of the oldest equine breeds in the world and ideal for use in chovkhan, Azerbaijan’s answer to polo. Even Queen Elizabeth owned a couple.
Georgia
“Georgia’s chief attraction lies in its people; the Georgians are not only fair to look upon, but they are essentially a loveable people…to live among such gay, open-hearted, open-handed, honest, innocent folk is the best cure for melancholy” - Sir John Oliver Wardrop, The Kingdom of Georgia (1888)
Visit Georgia
Home to the supra, natural wine and a certain golden fleece, Georgia is one of our favourite stops on the Silk Road. Following in the footsteps of Jason and his Argonauts, discerning travellers have been flocking to this unique land for centuries. And who can blame them: Georgia’s cave cities, majestic mountains and bountiful vineyards are just a few of the sights this country has to offer.
Things to do in Georgia
Climb the Caucasus. Stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, this rugged mountain range defines Georgia. The Caucasus are a touchstone of the national imagination and have inspired reams of poetry, prose and song.
Ski, swim and supra. After a busy day of adventuring, there’s nothing better than to sit down to a Georgian supra, or feast. These lively social events are a Bacchic frenzy of toasts, feasting and song. No Georgia tour is complete without one of these quintessentially Georgian experiences.
Raise a glass. Georgian wine is not only a staple of any supra, it’s a reason to travel to Georgia in its own right. The country’s fertile eastern plains are where man first domesticated the wild grape and fermented it into wine.
Take a sulphur bath in Tbilisi. The Georgian capital is one of the most ancient cities in the entire Caucasus. And there’s no better way to get to know the city’s ancestry than by taking a soak in Tbilisi’s sulphur bath
Turkiye
Why travel in Turkiye?
Turkiye’s Kaçkar Mountains, little-explored Black Sea coastline and mysterious, burning Chimaera are just a few of the things that make this country a worthy destination for adventurers. Not to mention its flourishing culture, winding bazaars and whirling dervishes.
Turkiye’s Silk Road Charm
At the height of the Silk Road the Turks knew this famous trade route as the Uzun Yol, or the ‘Long Road’. From the deep canyons of Cappadocia to the vast Anatolian plains, the Silk Road’s network of tracks, highways and caravanserais traversed this country from east to west.
Constantinople’s Golden Horn was one of the key terminus’ of the Great Silk Road. Then, as now, Constantinople – modern Istanbul – was the seam at which Asia ended and Europe began.
Things to do in Turkiye
Rise with the call to prayer in Istanbul. Istanbul comes to life as the dawn muezzin call drifts across the rooftops and down its winding alleys. Rise with it to experience the magic of this historic city without the daytime crowds.
Loosen up with a hammam. Lie on a heated marble slab, enjoy a massage and be scrubbed better than you have in a decade. Afterwards, submerge yourself in steaming hot and icy cold baths. Rinse and repeat.
Hunt for Noah’s Ark. In 2010, a team of Christian evangelists were 99.9% sure they’d found it. We take that with a pinch of salt, but there’s nothing wrong with having a go yourself. Rumour is that the arc might be washed up on the slopes of Mount Ararat.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan Travel
Multiple mountain ranges. Soaring eagles. Lavish hospitality. This knot of mountains at the heart of the Silk Road is an adventurer’s paradise.
Alexander the Great and Marco Polo crossed Tajikistan’s mountains. As did Chinese silk, Buddhism, gunpowder, tea, the ‘heavenly horses’ and Badakhshan rubies as they flowed West.
Nowadays, the Pamir Highway is one of the world’s greatest road trips. And those that come here soon fall in love with the country’s people and landscapes.
Things to do in Tajikistan
Stay in a homestay. Tajik hospitality is to be experienced to be believed, and you’ll find yourself welcomed into homes like family. The first time we went to Tajikistan, we couldn’t get over the open smiles of the Tajik people.
Experience jaw-dropping wilderness. In our crowded world, Tajikistan offers a rare opportunity to truly get away from it all. Stand on wind-blown mountaintops, walk through empty valleys and experience the healing power of proper wilderness.
Spot a snow leopard. Several hundred of these big cats roam the High Pamir ranges.We’ve run a few “snow leopards of Tajikistan” trips, on which you have the chance to meet the local conservationists fighting to save them. If you’re very lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of one yourself.
The best time to visit Tajikistan
Temperatures in Tajikistan vary dramatically, depending on altitude and the season. In the capital, Dushanbe, the mercury fluctuates from -2 degrees in January to nearly 40 degrees in July. The best time to visit Tajikistan is from early May to late September.
Travelling in Turkmenistan
Open desert. Camel trails. A burning crater, White Marble Capital. Turkmenistan travel offers its own kind of adventure. Those who take on its harsh landscape follow in the tracks of ancient wanderers from Europe, the far-east and beyond.
Flowing from the climbs of the Pamir mountains, the ancient Oxus river meanders across the eastern border of Turkmenistan. Silk Road merchants travelling from the east would crossed it on the way to Nisa and Merv, two market cities that now lie in the south and centre of the country.
They would also have to cross the vast sprawl of the Karakum desert. The trick with visiting Turkmenistan is to find ways to get to meet the local people and to understand their lives in this secretive nation. The
Things to do in Turkmenistan
Find the Gates of Hell. The Darvaza gas crater offers a glimpse into the fiery bowels of the earth. This open wound of the Karakorum desert has been burning for other 40 years. An oddity, but worth seeing with your own eyes.
Visit Mary and Konye Urgench. Konye Urgench, right alongside the Uzbek border near Khiva, was at the crossroads of two major Silk Road routes. Culture and architecture flourished as a result. Further east, Mary/Merv has some astounding history to see and feel.
Step into an episode of Planet Earth. Zemxem monitor lizards, jerboa, foxes, jackals, snakes, raptors, kulan ibex, Urial mountain goats, wild horses and prowling leopards. That’s more than enough for a prime-time Attenborough doc.
Kazakhstan
Travel to Kazakhstan
Underwater forests. Futuristic skyscrapers. Cosmic discovery. Kazakhstan travel is perfect for curious adventurers.
This country straddles the breadth of Central Asia, from the peaks of the Altai in the east to the wind-scuffed shores of the Caspian Sea in the west. Travelling along dusty roads, modern highways and scenic railways, our Kazakhstan tours uncover the country’s Silk Road lore.
With its very own Wild West and an active spaceport, Kazakhstan feels like a Hollywood movie set. Its vast, open plains offer crystal-clear views of the stars – if you’re lucky you might even catch a glimpse of a rocket in the night-sky.
Almaty is charming, well located at the foot of snow-capped peaks and a fantastic city for a short break, providing the perfect gateway to much of eastern Kazakhstan. Astana, the capital city, has been created in the middle of this vast country and is an experience of it’s own, with monuments and thrusting skyscrapers by well-known international architects rising from the surrounding steppe. It’s an exercise in modernist excess, and thoroughly interesting as a result.
Things to do in Kazakhstan
Explore the newly re-named Astana. Formerly Astana, then Nur-Sultan for a few years, now Astana again - the capital’s immense oil wealth has attracted the attention of the world’s best architects. But in between the skyscrapers, there’s a burgeoning street-food and alternative music scene. In 2017 The Telegraph named Astana ‘the world’s hottest new city destination’.
Baikonur. It’s a space station. In the desert. Rockets still take off from there. Are you not sold?
Stay in a Yurt in Mangistau. This Martian wilderness of rock, mountain and desert is more than worthy of a walkabout. We can organise a night in a yurt with panoramic views of the yawning valleys of Mangistau.
Kyrgyzstan
Why travel in Kyrgyzstan?
Snow leopards. Ancient walnut forests. Nomad culture. Kyrgyzstan travel won’t just introduce you to the Kyrgyz. This ‘Switzerland of Central Asia’ is a cultural melting-pot of Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Uighur and Russian culture.
That’s no surprise, given Kyrgyzstan’s vibrant Silk Road past. Silk, jewels and spices have flowed through these lands since the conquests of Alexander the Great. Today, everything from saddles and yurts to traditional felt kalpak hats are bartered over in the bazaars of Bishkek, the country’s capital.
Trade routes might change over time, but mountain ranges don’t stray an inch. The lofty peaks of the Tien Shan and Pamir ranges march across the country, stoking the souls of those that visit them. Nestled within their folds, adventurers can discover Buddhist carvings, ancient petroglyphs and remnants of lost cities.
An added bonus is that Kyrgyzstan is visa-free for over sixty countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Things to do in Kyrgyzstan
Try kumis. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but kumis, or fermented mare’s milk, is a delicacy in these parts and no visit to Kyrgyzstan is complete without a sip or three. We can’t guarantee that you’ll be drinking it for the rest of your life, but you’ll certainly be telling your grandchildren about it in years to come.
Explore a real-life Atlantis. Yep, you read right. Archaeologists have found tantalising ruins and artifacts on the bed of Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul, the second largest Alpine lake in the world. Some believe these to be the remains of a city built by Tamerlane and that Genghis – his Mongol predecessor – was buried on the shore nearby.
Walk Bishkek’s leafy boulevards. Brutalist through and through, Bishkek is rooted in raw concrete. But these Soviet architectural influences are balanced by the city’s tree-lined boulevards and leafy parks. Our directors Marley and Antonia lived here in 2017 and loved the city’s buzz (and its bars).
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Travelling in Uzbekistan
Sacred mosques. Beautiful madrassas. Heartfelt hospitality. Uzbekistan is the land of a thousand shrines. The blue domes of this country’s magisterial Silk Road cities are a siren call to curious travellers from near and far.
The oases cities of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara shine like jewels in the desert and our Silk Road tours tell the story of how these cities expanded the frontiers of human knowledge in astronomy, philosophy and medicine.
Our Uzbekistan trips take you well beyond the margins of travel brochures. Rather than only focusing on the highlights, we like to take our guests off the well-beaten path and into the homes and hearts of the Uzbek people. With our help you can explore ruined desert fortresses, meet famous artists, understand the hidden symbolism in Islamic carvings, visit silk worm farmers and experience the beating heart of modern Uzbek life.
Things to do in Uzbekistan
Turn back time. Uzbekistan travel is all about savouring the country’s Silk Road delights. Each and every glazed tile is a testament to this historical crossroads between east and west.
Explore a nuclear blast-proof metro. Tashkent’s Soviet-built underground line is packed with ornate mosaics and murals. Combined with the rigid boulevards above, it’s easy to see why this country is said to be marooned ‘somewhere between Mohammed and Marx’.
Barter in a bazaar. With silks, ikat coats, ceramics and embroidered bags to haggle over, you might want to think about upgrading your baggage allowance on the flight home.