November 2026
Uzbekistan & Tajikistan
This solo female group tour is designed by women, for women and in collaboration with local women! This tour takes you through two fascinating and very different Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but it's not like every other group tour you'll find.
It's an intimate journey along the ancient Silk Road that untangles the past and explores how women live, work, and create, intertwining traditional practices with modern skills.
There are plenty of opportunities for cultural exchange and learning, such as cooking and artisan classes, as well as chances to meet local women entrepreneurs and local guides from each city. This tour goes beyond traditional group tours by involving local women at every stage, for a more equitable and responsible experience.
The journey is overland because we like to keep things as sustainable as possible, so no short flights. Instead, you'll get to see the diversity of the landscape rolling by, the sheer vastness of the mountains and memorable interactions along the way.
You might be wondering why you'd go to Central Asia. Maybe you haven't heard much about this part of the world, which is all the more reason to visit. There's something for everyone, from historic heritage sites to pristine, untouched lakes.
We encourage women from all backgrounds to come along, so if you have any specific requirements or hesitations, please feel free to ask.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 | Arrival in Tashkent (12 Nov)
The journey begins with fresh fruit.
Arrive in Tashkent and take a private transfer to your boutique hotel. Enjoy an afternoon orientation walk: Independence Square, Amir Timur Museum, and the extraordinary Chorsu Bazaar – a domed cathedral full of spices, dried fruits, and warm bread pulled from tandoor ovens. In October, the bazaar is at its most abundant, with plenty of ruby-red pomegranates, towers of dried apricots, fresh walnuts, and grapes still on the vine. You'll have a field day trying everything you feast your eyes on. Accommodation: Mirzo Boutique Hotel (or similar), Tashkent | Meals: Dinner
Day 2 | Tashkent → Fergana Valley
Through the mountain pass to the cradle of craftsmanship.
Take the morning train from Tashkent to Margilan (departs at 08:05, arrives at 12:59, with reserved seating and panoramic views through the snow-dusted Kamchik Pass). The afternoon visit to Kokand includes the ornate Khudayar Khan Palace and the serene Jami Mosque. Train: Tashkent → Margilan | 08:05–12:59 | Accommodation: Hotel Asia (or similar), Fergana | Meals: B, L, D
Day 3 | Fergana Valley – Silk and Secrets
From cocoons to fine cloth: witness the hands of talented artisans,
The morning starts at the Yodgorlik Silk Factory where you can watch the entire journey from silk cocoon to finished fabric. Your visit focuses on the women artisans who work at each station: the reelers, the binders, the dyers and the weavers. Take the time to sit beside them, ask questions, and witness the astonishing precision of hand-dyed ikat patterns passed down for centuries. ✋ HANDS-ON WORKSHOP: Ikat Tie-Dyeing In a home workshop, a local artisan guides you through a hands-on ikat tie-dyeing session using natural pigments including pomegranate, walnut, and indigo. These colours are from the same palette used centuries ago. You will bind, dip, and unwrap your own piece of silk to take home. After, enjoy free time in Margilan’s bazaar, which is one of the most bustling markets in Central Asia. In November, you'll see the results of October's harvest, including melons, grapes, persimmons, and plenty of warm bread (which will be a staple during your trip). Accommodation: Hotel Asia (or similar), Fergana | Meals: B, L, D
Day 4 | Fergana Valley → Tashkent → Bukhara
From the green valley to the Noble City.
Take the morning train back to Tashkent (departs 08:00). Then connect to the Afrosiyob high-speed train to Bukhara (approximately 4 hours through the heart of Uzbekistan). Arrive in Bukhara by late afternoon. Relish an evening stroll around Lyab-i-Hauz – the ancient reflecting pool shaded by 600-year-old mulberry trees. After which you can have dinner together as the city glows in the evening light. In October, Bukhara’s evenings are warm enough to sit outside but cool enough to enjoy each day without feeling overwhelmed by the heat. Trains: Fergana → Tashkent, then Afrosiyob Tashkent → Bukhara | Accommodation: Komil Boutique Hotel (or similar), Bukhara | Meals: B, L, D
Day 10 | Samarkand – A Morning to Savour
Journeying further into Central Asia.
Take in a free morning for last-minute shopping in Samarkand’s workshops or a quiet walk to revisit your favourite spots. In the afternoon, transfer to the Uzbekistan–Tajikistan border at Jartepa (approximately 1 hour from Samarkand). Cross the border on foot; it's an easy, well-organised process. Meet your Tajik driver on the other side and transfer to Penjikent (30 minutes). You'll arrive in the evening in Penjikent, a small, peaceful town in the Zerafshan Valley. Enjoy a well-deserved dinner at your guesthouse. Transfer: Samarkand → border → Penjikent | ~2 hours total | Accommodation: Guesthouse, Penjikent | Meals: B, L, D
Day 5 | Bukhara – The Noble City
The weight of centuries is still here, in every brick and every stitch.
Take a morning walking tour through the Poi-Kalon complex (the great minaret, the Kalon Mosque, the Mir-i-Arab Madrasa), the covered trading domes where silks and carpets have been traded for a thousand years, and the Ark Citadel, which was the seat of power for emirs through the centuries. ✦ Cultural Exchange: The Gold Embroiderer Visit a zarduzi (gold embroidery) atelier behind the old bazaar. Meet the women artisans who stitch these extraordinary pieces and hear about practising an ancient art in a modern economy. The afternoon is free to explore independently. Lose yourself in the maze of alleys, drink chai by the hauz, browse the textile bazaars for suzani, ikat, and handwoven silk. Accommodation: Komil Boutique Hotel (or similar), Bukhara | Meals: B, L, D
Day 11 | Penjikent – The Ancient Sogdian City
Ruins and epic poetry.
In the morning visit the ruins of ancient Penjikent, once a flourishing Sogdian city and now an archaeological site revealing frescoes, temples, and market halls from a civilisation that predated Islam on the Silk Road. Visit the Rudaki Museum, dedicated to the father of Persian poetry, who was born in a village nearby. In the afternoon, walk through Penjikent’s small bazaar; it's a world away from the grand bazaars of Uzbekistan, but still full of charm and incredible fresh produce and textiles. ✦ Cultural Exchange: Village Women of the Zerafshan In a nearby village, local hosts will welcome you for a traditional Tajik lunch. The food is also different to Uzbekistan. Enjoy a qurutob (bread soaked in yoghurt sauce), fresh herbs, and flatbread baked in a stone oven. Accommodation: Guesthouse, Penjikent | Meals: B, L, D
Day 6 | Bukhara – Scholars, Stitches, and Sufis
The intellectual tradition that once drew students from Baghdad to Cordoba
The morning excursion is to the Bakhautdin Naqshband complex, one of Central Asia’s most important pilgrimage sites, named for the 14th-century Sufi master whose order spread from here to Istanbul to Delhi. ✦ Cultural Exchange: The Professor At Bukhara State University, you will sit with a local professor and talk about education, identity, and what it means to be a woman shaping the next generation in Uzbekistan. Learn about the challenges and triumphs of young women navigating the tension between tradition and ambition. ✋ HANDS-ON WORKSHOP: Suzani Embroidery A master embroiderer hosts a workshop where you will learn the basic stitches, choose your colours, and begin a small piece to take home. She will tell you about the tradition: a mother begins stitching a suzani for her daughter at birth, completing it by the time the daughter marries. Three years of patience, stitched into cloth. Enjoy your last dinner in Bukhara, possibly in a restored madrasa courtyard, with music and the scent of autumn in the air. Accommodation: Komil Boutique Hotel (or similar), Bukhara | Meals: B, L, D
Day 12 | Penjikent → Seven Lakes (Haftkul)
Seven lakes–experience untouched nature
In the morning, depart into the Fann Mountains toward the Seven Lakes, Haftkul, a chain of turquoise, emerald, and sapphire lakes at altitudes between 1,600 and 2,400 metres. The drive (approximately 2 hours) winds through dramatic gorges, past small villages, and along a glistening river. Stop at several lakes for short walks, photographs, and a picnic lunch beside the water. Witness how each lake is a different shade, each framed by rock walls and walnut trees. At the highest lake, Hazorchashma (2,400m), you will feel as though you are completely cut off from the modern world. After, return to Penjikent or continue to a mountain guesthouse for the night – depending on the group’s pace and energy. Transfer: Penjikent → Seven Lakes → Penjikent | ~4–5 hours driving | Accommodation: Guesthouse, Penjikent | Meals: B, L (picnic), D
Day 7 | Bukhara → Samarkand
The city gives way to silence and mountains
Take the late-morning Afrosiyob high-speed train from Bukhara to Samarkand (approximately 1 hour 30 minutes with comfortable reserved seating). Watch the Kyzylkum desert gliding past in the window. Arrive in Samarkand around midday and transfer to the Amira Boutique Hotel, a thirteen-room family-run boutique three minutes from the Registan, where you will be warmly welcomed in the courtyard. Enjoy a light lunch at the hotel and settle in before you experience the Registan. Witness the three colossal madrasas framing the most photographed square in Central Asia. In November, with the tour groups largely gone, the late-afternoon light brings the square to life and takes you back in time without the crowds. It's an opportunity to take your time without a schedule. So you can sit, walk, take pictures or just take it all in. Take an evening stroll through the old quarter and have dinner in a courtyard restaurant nearby. Train: Bukhara → Samarkand | Afrosiyob, ~1h30 | Accommodation: Amira Boutique Hotel (or similar), Samarkand | Meals: B, L, D
Day 13 | Penjikent → Iskanderkul
Nestled in the Fann Mountains at 2,200 metres.
In the morning, depart toward Iskanderkul (approximately 3–4 hours). The route climbs through rugged mountain scenery, switchbacks, narrow valleys, and views that make you stop the car every few kilometres. Iskanderkul is a triangular glacial lake named after Alexander the Great, who is said to have passed through this valley 2,500 years ago. It is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in all of Central Asia. In the afternoon, take a short hike to a nearby waterfall. You'll have time to walk along the shore, or simply sit and absorb the stillness. Stay overnight in cottages by the lake. They're simple, clean, with hot water and mountain air that smells of pine and snow. Transfer: Penjikent → Iskanderkul | ~3–4 hours | Accommodation: Lakeside cottages, Iskanderkul | Meals: B, L, D
Day 8 – October 2026 | Samarkand – Enter the Hammam
A day designed around the rituals women have shared for centuries.
This day is all about switching off from the world. There's no guided schedule and no rush. Instead, it's all about immersing yourself in Samarkand and a slower rhythm. The day consists of enjoying the hammam and garden, and a long lunch, all in time for a late-afternoon nap. It is the rhythm the women of Samarkand have built into their own lives for generations, and one travellers rarely get to share. ✦ Morning at the Hammam The day begins in a private, traditional hammam, open only to the group. Marble warmth, rising steam, and a kese scrub by the hands of a woman who has done this work for thirty years. A massage with rose oil pressed in nearby villages. The hammam is a centuries-old centre of women's social life across the Silk Road, where weddings were planned, gossip was exchanged, and brides were prepared by their grandmothers. ✦ Garden Lunch and Traditional Beauty Rituals After the hammam, the group gathers in a private garden with pomegranate trees overhead, low cushions on a wooden takht, and autumn light filtering through. Have a long lunch of fresh herbs, seasonal fruit, warm bread, and tea. Over the meal, optional traditional beauty rituals: henna patterns on the hands, usma (a deep-green local plant) for the brows, walnut oil combed through the hair. There are no obligations; rather, it's all a part of the practices of sharing. The women leading the rituals have practised these arts since girlhood. ✦ Afternoon Rest, Evening Bazm The afternoon is yours to rest at Amira Boutique. You can swim, read, walk in the courtyard or wander outside. In the evening, the group gathers for a bazm, the traditional women's gathering of Central Asia, hosted by one of Samarkand's most respected matriarchs—tea, dried fruit, sweets, music, and conversation that drifts wherever you lead it. Women have gathered like this in this city for a thousand years. This is the day many women later say they remember, not because it was performative, but because they got to witness another side of Uzbek traditions. Accommodation: Amira Boutique Hotel (or similar), Samarkand | Meals: B, L, D
Day 14 | Iskanderkul → Dushanbe
Tajikistan in one road trip.
Awake early at the lake to see the mist rising and the mountains reflected in glass-still water. After breakfast, depart for Dushanbe (approximately 4–5 hours). The drive descends through the Anzob Pass, and the landscape transforms from alpine peaks to rolling foothills and, finally, to the wide, tree-lined avenues of the capital. In the afternoon, take a city tour of Dushanbe and visit the National Museum of Tajikistan (one of Central Asia’s finest), Rudaki Park, and the colossal Ismoili Somoni statue. Dushanbe means “Monday” in Persian. It was once a small village with a Monday market. Today it is a surprisingly green capital of 800,000 people. Enjoy a farewell dinner at a local Dushanbe restaurant to try Tajik cuisine for a last time and toast to the journey and a final evening together. Share contacts, pictures, and maybe a few tears. Transfer: Iskanderkul → Dushanbe | ~4–5 hours | Accommodation: Atlas Hotel (or similar), Dushanbe | Meals: B, L, D
Day 9 | Samarkand – In Timur’s Shadow
Architecture You Won't Forget.
In the morning, visit the Gur-i-Amir mausoleum, the resting place of Timur. The interiors are covered in gold leaf and jade. After, you'll head to the Ulugh Beg Observatory, a 15th-century astronomical complex built by a ruler who was also one of the finest astronomers of his age. Later, see the Shah-i-Zinda, the ‘Avenue of the Living King’, a necropolis of turquoise-tiled mausoleums climbing a hillside. In the late morning you'll go to the Konigil paper-making workshop, where artisans produce mulberry paper using methods unchanged since the Silk Road era. ✦ WOMEN’S ENCOUNTER: Cooking and Conversation In a village home outside Samarkand, you'll be welcomed into a local kitchen. Here you will learn to make plov from scratch. While the rice steams, the conversation turns to migration. What happens when husbands work abroad, and women raise children? Half of Uzbek families have been touched by labour migration. It's a complex story, told from personal perspectives, so we can go beyond news headlines and better understand what countless women actually experience. ✋ HANDS-ON WORKSHOP: Plov Cooking You don't have to love cooking, but you might start after this class. You will peel the carrots, layer the rice, tend the fire, and eat the result together. It's a dish that represents Uzbek culture in a single pot. Accommodation: Amira Boutique Hotel (or similar), Samarkand | Meals: B, L, D
Day 15 | Departure from Dushanbe
The end, or the beginning of your trip?
Enjoy a last free morning for a final stroll through Dushanbe's parks and markets, or visit the Hissor Fortress (30 minutes outside the city), one of the most important historical sites in Tajikistan, dating back 2,500 years. Transfer to Dushanbe International Airport for your flight home or onward connection. We can also arrange onward trips to Central Asia.
Meet Your Guide
Central Asia is the ultimate solo female destination
Rukhshona is a Samarkand-born guide, scholar, and cultural interpreter who divides her days between lecturing at the Silk Road International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage and guiding travellers through the cities she knows by heart.
She's spent five years working on the ground, informing her teaching so it goes beyond the theoretical. Rukhshona shares stories with curiosity and passion because she's been in hospitality her whole life and is a part of the living pulse of Uzbekistan–its young people.
When she is not in front of a class or a group, Rukhshona is working on her dissertation on regional development, running long stretches of road outside the city, or lifting at the gym.
What's Included
Transporation
Reserved-seating trains, Afrosiyob high-speed train, and private vehicle transfers throughout Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
Activities
Entry tickets, hikes, cultural classes and workshops ( Ceramics, ikat dyeing, suzani embroidery, and plov cooking–all materials included, private hammam ritual, garden lunch, traditional beauty rituals, evening bazm meetings with female artisans, entrepreneurs, professors, and hosts in both countries).
Meals
Full board (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
Please let us know if you prefer vegetarian, vegan, halal, or gluten-free options (or have any other dietary requirements).
Accommodation
This tour is based on twin-sharing rooms. Hotels in Uzbekistan offer comfortable rooms with private bathrooms. Guesthouses in Tajikistan may be more basic. There is a single supplement if you would like your own room.
Pick Up
Airport pick up is included
Expert Guide
Friendly English-speaking Rukhshona throughout Uzbekistan, plus a dedicated local guide for the Tajikistan extension, and an experienced driver.
Countries You'll Visit
Uzbekistan
Experience the stunning architecture of historic mosques and madrasas as well as vibrant bazaars in Uzbekistan: a pearl of the ancient Silk Road.
Tajikistan
With its towering mountain peaks, pristine lakes, off the beaten path opportunities Tajikistan, is a country of wonders nestled in Central Asia.
Is This Tour For Me?
Travel Style: Casual
The tour requires walking, with a few hours of hiking.
Service Level: Standard
A standard private vehicle will be used for transportation. Some yurts and a mix of guest houses, hotels, and hostels are included. The price is based on twin rooms.
Physical Rating: 3/5
This tour is not very physically demanding, plus we can make extra accommodations.
Trip Type: Small Group Tour
This small-group trip has a 4-person minimum and accommodates up to 12 people. It's perfect for those who value solo time but also enjoy chatting with other travellers and local people. Whether you're on a sabbatical or want to experience something different, this tour is designed to refresh and inspire.
Age requirement: 18+
This trip is suitable for adults only.
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