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The question we hear most from first-time Central Asia visitors is whether to pick Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. Honestly? Both. Ten days is where the pairing works without turning into a sprint. Kazakhstan gives you the landscape (mountains, canyons, lakes) and a cleaner modern city in Almaty. Uzbekistan gives you the history: Samarkand, Bukhara, the Silk Road, and a much denser run of monuments. Ten days lets you see each country at half-pace, which is the right pace for both. The route below is the one we send most often, and five days in each country is the split most travellers end up glad they chose.
Key facts
- Best months
- April-June and September-October. July and August are hot in Samarkand and Bukhara (35-42°C) and hazy on the Almaty steppe.
- Trip length
- ten days, door to door.
- Visas
- many passports, including most of Europe, enter both countries visa-free. Some nationalities need an Uzbek e-visa; we check yours.
- Payments
- Visa/Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay work in the big cities of both countries. Cash for stalls in Bukhara's trading domes, small chaikhanas and tips. Keep tenge (KZT) and som (UZS) in separate pockets. Don't try to open Kaspi as a foreigner: you can't use it, and you don't need it.
- Languages
- English at hotels and central restaurants in both countries. Kazakh is the state language in Almaty; Uzbek in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. Our guides interpret in the bazaars and at the trading domes.
- Transport
- a direct flight between the two countries (under two hours); fast trains inside Uzbekistan (roughly 2-4 hours per leg).
- What to wear
- layers for the Almaty mountains; light clothing in Uzbekistan, plus a head cover for women visiting mosques.
The 10-day route
Days 1-2 - Almaty, slow start.
Day 1: arrival, lunch at Sandyq, then an afternoon city walk: Panfilov Park (the memorial park of the 28 Guardsmen), Zenkov Cathedral (a wooden Orthodox cathedral finished in 1907, built without nails in the frame), Republic Square with the Independence Monument, and the Soviet modernist core. Sunset on Kok-Tobe, the hill of about 1,100 m above the eastern side of the centre, then dinner in town.
Day 2: the mountain day. The Shymbulak cable cars take you from Medeu up to Talgar Pass at 3,163 m on the Trans-Ili Alatau ridge. In the afternoon, Big Almaty Lake (a turquoise reservoir at 2,511 m in the neighbouring Bolshaya Almatinka valley). Dinner is a second cuisine: an Uyghur lagman table, or a Georgian one.
Day 3 - Charyn Canyon.
About 200 km east. The Valley of Castles is a corridor of red sandstone walls; the warm light from 16:00 to sunset is the reason to come. On the way back, an optional stop at the Saka burial mounds at Issyk. The small museum there is worth twenty minutes, though the Golden Man on display is a replica (the original is in Astana). Back in Almaty by about 21:00.
Day 4 - Kolsai, with a night in Saty.
The drive to Saty village takes four to five hours via Kegen. Afternoon at Lower Kolsai (1,818 m); in early to mid-September the birches on the far slope start turning yellow. The night is at a family-run Saty guesthouse with comfortable rooms, private bathrooms and a home-cooked breakfast.
Day 5 - Kaindy, back to Almaty, evening flight to Tashkent.
Early morning at Kaindy: a sunken forest of Tien Shan spruce (Picea schrenkiana) at about 2,000 m, flooded when an earthquake-triggered landslide dammed the valley more than a century ago. The bare trunks still stand out of the water. From Saty it's under an hour by 4WD on a rough track. Back in Almaty by 14:00, then an evening flight to Tashkent with Air Astana or Uzbekistan Airways (direct, under two hours).
Day 6 - Tashkent.
The Hazrati Imam complex, the city's religious heart, with its Quran library long known for the Uthman Quran, one of the oldest surviving copies (7th century). Then Chorsu Bazaar, the huge blue-domed market of the old city (spices, dried fruit, non bread), and lunch in a chaikhana. In the afternoon, Soviet modernist Tashkent: Hotel Uzbekistan, Independence Square and the metro stations (the first line opened in 1977). Dinner at a Tashkent plov spot.
Day 7 - Tashkent to Samarkand, the Registan day.
Morning fast train to Samarkand (the Afrosiyob high-speed service, a little over 2 hours). Lunch at a plov spot, then Gur-e-Amir, the blue-domed mausoleum of Timur (1404). Save the Registan for late afternoon, when the low light catches the tilework: three madrasas around one plaza (Ulugh Beg, finished 1420; Sher-Dor, 1636; Tilya-Kori, 1660), the image everyone has of Silk Road architecture.
Day 8 - Samarkand to Bukhara.
Morning at the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, an avenue of tiled mausoleums, most from the 14th and 15th centuries, climbing the hillside. Then the Bibi-Khanym mosque, Timur's giant congregational mosque (1399-1404), once one of the largest in the Islamic world. Lunch in the old town. Afternoon fast train to Bukhara (about 1 hour 45 minutes). In the evening, walk the 16th-century trading domes: Toki Zargaron (the jewellers'), Toki Telpak Furushon (the hatters') and Toki Sarrafon (the money-changers'). Together with the Tim of Abdullah Khan, they're what survives of old Bukhara's covered bazaars.
Day 9 - Bukhara.
The Po-i-Kalyan complex and the Kalyan minaret (1127, about 46 m of brick, said to be the one Bukhara building Genghis Khan spared). The Ark fortress, a royal citadel dating back to the 5th century and the seat of the Bukhara emirs until 1920. The Magoki-Attori mosque, one of the oldest surviving mosques in Central Asia. Lyabi-Hauz, the plaza around a stone pool built in 1620 and ringed by chaikhanas and mulberry trees. A long lunch at a Lyabi-Hauz chaikhana. In the afternoon, Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa, the summer palace of the last emir.
Day 10 - Bukhara morning, train to Tashkent, fly home.
A slow morning and a last lunch in Bukhara, then the train back to Tashkent. The Afrosiyob takes about four hours, and you get the last of the country through the window. Fly home from Tashkent, or carry on from there: it has by far the widest choice of long-haul connections in the region.
What works and why this split
The 5+5 split is the version we recommend, and the reason is geography. Kazakhstan's landscape days and Uzbekistan's history days want different things from you. Squeeze either into three days and you come home saying you only saw the famous places. Five days at half-pace in each country gets you the famous places plus the layer behind them.
If your priorities lean one way:
- Lean Uzbek (3+7)
- Two nights in Almaty and one canyon day, then Tashkent on Day 4 and longer in Samarkand and Bukhara. The right call if the Silk Road sites are the trip.
- Lean Kazakh (7+3)
- Add the Assy Plateau or Altyn-Emel to the Kazakhstan week; in Uzbekistan do Samarkand only and fly out from there.
- Even split with a cushion (4+5, plus 1 buffer day)
- The version for less experienced travellers. The buffer day catches a missed connection, or buys an extra Bukhara morning.
Practical info
- Money
- Cards and Apple Pay in all the cities; cash for the trading-dome stalls in Bukhara, tips and a few small Uzbek restaurants. Keep tenge and som apart.
- Visas
- Visa-free for many passports in both countries; some nationalities need an Uzbek e-visa. Apply about 2 weeks ahead; our manager handles the filing.
- Flights
- Air Astana and Uzbekistan Airways fly Almaty-Tashkent direct. Book about 4 weeks ahead.
- Trains
- The Afrosiyob is Uzbekistan's fast train, with economy, business and VIP classes. We book the tickets.
- What to wear
- Light clothing in Uzbekistan, especially in August and September. A scarf or head cover for women visiting mosques.
- Drinking water
- Bottled in both countries. Hotel tap water is fine for brushing your teeth.
FAQ
Should I do Khiva too?
If you have 12 days, add 2 for Khiva. The train from Bukhara takes about three and a half hours, plus a night there. Otherwise skip it: ten days doesn't fit four cities.
Are the trains comfortable?
Yes. The Afrosiyob is clean, fast and on time. Business class is the upgrade if you want more room.
Can I drive between Tashkent and Samarkand?
Yes, about four and a half hours by car. The fast train takes a little over two.
Almaty to Tashkent overland?
Possible, by road or by train on the days it runs. The flight is under two hours and gives you the day back; overland is the experience.
Is the food different enough between the two countries?
Yes. Kazakh tables (beshbarmak, also spelled besbarmak, kazy, baursak, kymyz) and Uzbek tables (plov, manti, samsa, non bread) share ingredients but not identity. Plan one big plov lunch in Tashkent and one beshbarmak dinner in Almaty, and you'll taste the difference. Coffee and wine work in Almaty; tea and bread hold up every Uzbek meal.
This is a custom trip
The ten days above are the version we send most often, not a fixed package. The split between the two countries, the nights in each city and which legs go by train all move to fit you. Send us your dates by email or on WhatsApp and we'll build the route and book the tickets.
Please note: During summer months (June–August) temperatures in the canyons can exceed +35 °C. Be sure to bring enough water and sunscreen.
