Example Itinerary
Classic Tajikistan
- Duration
- 8 days / 7 nights
- Price Per Person
-
Terms & Conditions
Price is based on double or twin hotel room occupancy and includes accommodation, transfers, car/driver, English-speaking guide, activities and entrance fees, breakfasts and some casual lunches while touring. Flights and optional special activities will be quoted separately. Most personal expenses, including dinners, alcoholic beverages, spa treatments and gratuities can be paid on the spot while traveling. Prices may vary depending on season, choice of accommodation and other factors.
- Interests
- Off the Grid
- Destinations
- Tajikistan
Tajikistan, a remote land of remarkable stark beauty, beckons travelers with its towering peaks and vast open spaces. Embedded in the rugged terrain are crystal-clear rivers and waterfalls that remain hidden from the vast majority and rustic villages that still bask in rich local culture and ancient traditions. Over nine unforgettable days, adventure across Tajikistan and discover its wealth of natural and cultural charms. You will have the opportunity to hike to a necklace of vivid-blue lakes in the Fann mountains, explore historic crossroad towns and ancient ruins, and witness the country's ambitions of modernity in Dushanbe.
This itinerary is an example. It’s designed to inspire you and provide you with thoughtfully curated ideas. You can choose to do this exact itinerary or completely personalize it. All trips are 100% bespoke.
Highlights
- Fann Mountains: The rugged snowcapped peaks of the Fann Mountains with its wealth of jewel-toned lakes, wide dramatic vistas, and countless small villages of friendly pastoral locals, makes for some of the country’s most spectacular scenery, and some of the world’s best trekking.
- Ancient Crossroads: Travel to ancient towns that predate the Silk Road they sit along. Occupying strategic locations, these towns flourished during the trading heyday and still serve as crossroads of the region. Explore monuments and ruins, and taste the yellow and white cherries that were once coveted goods exported along the Silk Road.
- Dushanbe: Once a small village that grew to be a Soviet capital, it is now racing towards modernization and erasing its USSR past. An ecclectic mix of old buildings and modern skyscrapers, witness how Dushanbe rapidly remaking itself into a European-style city.
Day-by-Day
Day 1
Dushanbe
Upon your arrival mid-night, you'll be greeted at the airport by our representative and transferred to your luxurious 5 star hotel. Take a moment to settle in and get refreshed before stepping out to explore the vibrant city. After Soviet troops overthrew the emir, Dushanbe (then dubbed Stalinabad) was named the capital of the new Tajik soviet state and underwent rapid industrialization and reconstruction. Similar to other Soviet-planned cities in Central Asia, Dushanbe features wide, straight, tree-lined boulevards with large public buildings and statues. Later in the evening, enjoy a welcome dinner with a music and dance performance that will give you a taste of the local culture.
Hotel Options
Day 2
Dushanbe
Today you will explore the capitol city. Begin with a visit to the Buddha in Nirvana at the Museum of Antiquity. At over 39 feet high, this reclining Buddha statue is the largest Buddha in Central Asia and is believed to be 1,600 years old. Your next stop is the Navruz Palace, an extraordinary modern building decorated by hundreds of artisans from all over Tajikistan. Most of the rooms are now used for official government meetings, or for international conferences, but one room is open to the public and used as a popular wedding venue. Afterwards, you will visit the handicrafts center to meet master craftsmen, including those involved in the creation of the Navruz Palace. After lunch, you will visit the statue of Ismail Somoni in Rudaki Park. This large monument commemorates the 1,100th anniversary of the Samanid State, a Golden Age of the Tajik nation, when science and arts flourished. From there take a stroll through Rudaki Park, which is dedicated to the great Persian poet Rudaki, who also lived during the Samanid period, in the 10th century.
Day 3
Iskanderkul Lake
It’s a moderately long but scenic drive out of Dushanbe to Iskanderkul. Along the way you will stop to have lunch in Sarvoda village arriving in the early afternoon to Iskanderkul Lake, a triangular lake named after Alexander the Great (“Iskander” is the Persian form of Alexander). It is considered to be one of the most exquisitely beautiful lakes in all of the former Soviet Union. In addition to admiring the views there will be time for a short hike to Iskander Waterfall and Snake Lake before dinner. You will spend the night in cottages on the lake shore, where the rooms have private bathrooms.
Hotel Options
Day 4
Gazza
After breakfast you will drive toward the Penjikent region. Reaching the Gazza village you check into your guesthouse and have lunch. After lunch enjoy leisure time at the guesthouse or walk and explore the village. For dinner you will have an opportunity to experience cooking master class followed by a local folklore show either here or in Penjikent.
Hotel Options
Day 5
Pendjikent
After breakfast you will be transferred to the one the most iconic and authentic village in the Zerafshan valley – Voru village. Vuro is a mountain village, it is located on the left bank of the Archmaydon river. The houses in the village are built in a steep gorge which allows for the rooftop of one house to serve as the yard for the house above. You will be hosted by them and have a chance to meet some of their family members. In the evening you will arrive to reach Penjikent, known as Pompeii of Central Asia. After checking in to your hotel you’ll have an opportunity for sightseeing of Old Penjikent ruins.
Hotel Options
Day 6
Pendjikent
Your day trip will start with a bumpy ride into the mountains to explore the area of the Seven Lakes. This mountain valley is not far from Penjikent, but due to the bad road conditions, the trip takes a full day. You will drive up the valley to the sixth lake. It is then a short and easy hike of about two hours (both ways) to the seventh and highest lake, Hazorchashma. There will be time to enjoy the scenery and wander along the lake shore before hiking back down to the sixth lake and returning by road to Penjikent. On the way down you will stop for a walk in a couple of villages and have a lunch at a guesthouse in Noffin village.
Day 7
Khudjand
It is time to leave the mountains behind and return to urban life, journeying to the city of Khujand in northern Tajikistan. Khujand is situated on the Syr Darya River in the Fergana Valley. It is an ancient city with a history dating back to Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great. On the way you will visit Istaravshan, a city founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC which recently celebrated its 2,500th anniversary. Istaravshan’s artisans are highly regarded across Central Asia and the city is well known for its blacksmiths, who hand-craft knives of excellent quality. You will visit the blacksmiths’ workshops near the entrance to the city’s market, and also meet a woodcarvers workshop and a comb maker’s house. There will be time to see the main historical sights – the Kok Gumbaz and the Hazrat Shoh Mosque – before continuing on your way to Khujand arriving in the evening to check in at your hotel.
Hotel Options
Day 8
Khudjand
After breakfast, visit Khujand’s main market, Panjshabe Bazaar, Tajikistan’s largest market. Continue touring the city with visits to the Maslihaddin Mosque, the Lenin Monument, and Arbob Cultural Palace, where you will also visit a small factory that produces traditional Tajik textiles. Lunch will be served at Anora, a house museum where you can appreciate traditional interior designs and experience the authentic atmosphere of a Tajiki house. The friendly family members are always happy to welcome guests from different cultures and to exchange experiences with interested travelers. After lunch drive to your final attraction, the women's factory, Khujand Atlas. Khujand Atlas was one of the leading textile factory that use silk for production of traditional Atlas textile. During your visit, get an inside look at the production process and learn about the history of the factory and its significance in the local economy. Here you will have the opportunity to purchase some of their products for souvenirs before departing the country for your return home or other touring.
Exclusively Asia
With Remote Lands you'll travel with people who have made Asia the solitary focus of their own lifelong adventure. As our guest, you'll discover Asia on a journey that is completely, authentically your own, adapted from our own remarkable experiences and adventures over the years.
With Remote Lands you'll travel with people who have made Asia the solitary focus of their own lifelong adventure. As our guest, in the continent that our north American founders Catherine and Jay have adored and explored for decades, you'll discover Asia on a journey that is completely, authentically your own, adapted from our own remarkable experiences and adventures over the years.
Travelogues
An Asia-focused magazine brought to you by Remote Lands - a platform for adventure, luxury, and authenticity from experts and explorers around the continent.
Truly remote: Tajikistan’s Bartang Valley
- Author
- Dave Stamboulis
This highlight of the Pamir Highway features jagged peaks, a rushing river, and timeless Tajik culture
Fann Mountains: Hiking Tajikistan’s Glacial Lake Loop
- Author
- John McMahon
If you dream of hiking the Haft Kul, or Lake Loop, of the Fann Mountains for the crystal blue waters and lonely trails, this piece will get you started.
Faces of the Wakhan Valley
- Author
- Jay Tindall
The history of the Wakhi people and the Wakhan Valley is complex, and the journey across the Pamir Highway can be unpredictable, barren, and cold. In the faces of the Wakhi people, there is warmth.
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