UZBEKISTAN · 12 DAYS
Silk Road in depth
The four cities plus the Fergana Valley's silk and ceramics, Timur's birthplace at Shakhrisabz, and a night in a yurt in the Kyzylkum.
Guide price from US$2,190 per person
Uzbekistan · 2 to 3 days
Fergana Valley
Silk weaving in Margilan, ceramics in Rishtan and knives in Chust, over the mountains east of Tashkent.
Why go
Why Fergana Valley
The valley is where things are made. The silk ikat you see in every bazaar is woven in Margilan; the blue bowls come from Rishtan; the knives and skullcaps from Chust. The workshops are real businesses and happy to show you, and the valley is the most densely populated and most Uzbek part of the country.
It is a different trip from the cities. Fewer monuments, more people, and the best fruit in Uzbekistan.
See and do
What to see
- Margilan silk
- The Yodgorlik workshop, from cocoon to loom. Kumtepa bazaar on Thursdays and Sundays.
- Rishtan ceramics
- Family workshops where the glaze is ground from local stone.
- Kokand
- The Khudayar Khan palace and the Juma Mosque, the valley's old capital.
- Chust
- Knife forges and the valley's black-and-white embroidered skullcaps.
- Andijan
- Birthplace of Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty.
In pictures
A closer look
Practical
When and how
- How long
- 2 to 3 days
- Best time
- March to June for the blossom and the fruit, September to November for the harvest.
- Getting there
- Trains from Tashkent run through the Kamchik tunnel to Kokand, Margilan and Andijan in four to five hours. By road over the pass it is about five hours.
Tours
Trips that go to Fergana Valley
FERGANA VALLEY · 4 DAYS
Fergana Valley crafts
Silk in Margilan, ceramics in Rishtan, knives in Chust and the palace at Kokand: four days in the valley over the mountains from Tashkent.
Guide price from US$640 per person
UZBEKISTAN · KYRGYZSTAN · 15 DAYS
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
The Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan, then over the border through the Fergana Valley to Osh, Issyk-Kul and a yurt on the high pasture at Song-Kul.
Guide price from US$2,890 per person
Plan a trip
Tell us your dates and we build a trip around Fergana Valley, with a firm price, within a working day.
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