Silk Road - Journey to Samarkand

Kashgar, Samarkand and Khiva — ancient Silk Road cities that evoke images of exotic caravans traveling across deserts and over mountains, linking the worlds of east and west. For over 1,000 years, it was the legendary Silk Road that provided adventurers and traders with a route from the mystique and wealth of China to the developing countries of Europe. ElderTreks’ Silk Road journey explores the old trading routes of northern Pakistan, northwestern China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

We spend our first week in the mountains and colorful cities of northern Pakistan, including the beautiful Hunza Valley. Explore the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs and the Karakorams, and drive along the Karakoram Highway over the world’s highest paved border crossing — the Khunjerab Pass — into China. In Kashgar, visit the ancient market, where 100,000 Uyghurs gather to sell and trade. Crossing the mountainous beauty of Kyrgyzstan, we arrive in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, our transfer point to the historic city of Khiva — an open-air museum of central Asian architecture.

In Bukhara and Samarkand, two of the best preserved Silk Road wonders, we see mosques, tombs and monuments that provide a majestic ending to this Silk Road journey.

The words of Alexander the Great, spoken more than 2,000 years ago, still ring true: “Everything I have heard about the beauty of Samarkand is true — except that it is even more beautiful than I could have imagined.”