UZBEKISTAN · 8 DAYS
Classic Uzbekistan
Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva in eight days: the four Silk Road cities, by high-speed train and across the Kyzylkum desert.
Guide price from US$1,390 per person
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.
The trip
4 days, 2 places
Tashkent and Fergana Valley.
The Fergana Valley is the workshop of Uzbekistan. Silk has been woven in Margilan for a thousand years, the potters of Rishtan still grind their own blue glaze, and Chust makes the knives and skullcaps you see across the country.
This is a short trip for people who want to watch things being made and talk to the people making them. It adds easily to the start or end of any other tour.
Highlights
- Ikat silk from cocoon to loom at the Yodgorlik workshop
- The potters' quarter of Rishtan, with a master's lunch
- The Khudayar Khan palace in Kokand
- Knife forging and skullcap embroidery in Chust
The route
Where you go
- Tashkentstart
- Fergana Valley3 nights
- Length
- 4 days, 3 nights
- Starts and ends
- Tashkent
- Group
- Private, 1 to 8 travellers
- Pace
- Gentle
- Best months
- March to June, September to November
- Updated
- October 2026
Day by day
The itinerary
Marker above the line: a day in one place. Marker cut by the line: a day that moves.
Day 1
Tashkent to Kokand
Fergana Valley · by train · night in Fergana · breakfast
The morning train through the Kamchik tunnel. Kokand: the Khudayar Khan palace, the Juma Mosque with its carved columns, the Narbutabey madrasa and the old bazaar. Night in Fergana city.
Day 2
Margilan
Fergana Valley · night in Fergana · breakfast
A full day of silk. The Yodgorlik workshop in the morning, from cocoon to loom, and the Kumtepa bazaar, one of the largest in the valley, if it is Thursday or Sunday. The afternoon with an ikat designer.
Day 3
Rishtan and Chust
Fergana Valley · night in Fergana · breakfast, lunch
Rishtan in the morning: two or three family workshops and lunch with one of the masters. Chust in the afternoon for the knife forges and the women who embroider the valley's black-and-white skullcaps.
Day 4
Back to Tashkent
Tashkent · by train · breakfast
The train back over the mountains, arriving in Tashkent by early afternoon. Onward to your flight, or to Samarkand with us.
The price
What is included
Guide price from
US$640 per person
Per person, two travelling together, mid-range hotels. The final price depends on your dates, group size and hotels; we quote within a working day.
Included
- Three nights in a good hotel in Fergana, with breakfast
- A private English-speaking guide throughout
- Private car and driver in the valley
- Train tickets both ways
- Workshop visits and the masters' lunch in Rishtan
- Entrance fees to every site in the itinerary
Not included
- International flights
- Lunches and dinners except where listed
- Travel insurance
- Purchases in the workshops, which are yours to decide
- Tips
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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
Plan this trip
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. We send a proposal for Fergana Valley crafts built around you, with a firm price, within a working day.
We reply within one working day. [email protected]