Going to the Stans? Or anywhere in Central Asia?

Wow Mardee - what a great website you found! Thanks for sharing here. I have interest in visiting the region but no set plans or dates yet. But will keep checking this thread for ideas. Thanks for getting it started!

It’s so interesting that Claude recommended caravanistan.com. I have recommended that site many times on this forum including in Franks thread but you may have missed it. That was my starting point when I was researching my trip many years ago. Obviously there is so much more info now and overall travel to Central Asia has gotten so much easier.

Enjoy the Stans

Mardee, I have not been, BUT we are watching the current season (six) of "Race Across the World" on BBC right now. A chunk of the travel the teams are doing goes through the Stans with a final destination in Mongolia. While it won't have the depth of into the website you found does, I think if you have the ability to watch or see clips or even just find out where/how they navigated the area, it might help! I know the Wikipedia site has pretty good information on the routes taken in each episode. It has made me want to look more into travel there in the future.

Mardee
Thanks so much for the website recommendation. As you know we are planning Uzbekistan for next year too! I must admit that it was the BBC’s Race Across the World that got us interested!

I’m also intrigued by Turkmenistan, but it looks a bit more tricky to do independently than Uzbekistan.
Jacqui

Arnold, I must have just glanced over it and not seen it. And it wasn't a hyperlink, which is probably why I missed it. 😊 But it really is a great website and I'm glad to know that it was useful for you.

Joy, I'm very excited about planning a trip there. I hope you get there soon!

acher, thanks! I actually found a link online where they have videos of all of Season 6, so I'm going to watch them. It looks wonderful! https://dai.ly/xa9n8ga

Jacqui, I love that you first got the idea of visiting there from watching that show. I happened to be online one day and came across a photo of Khiva. It looked so fascinating that I started digging into the country and just became enamored of it. And I'm still going back and forth about Turkmenistan. I'll be curious to know what you decide about that.

By the way, there's another show/documentary called Dark Tourist that features Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It's available on Netflix.

Mardee
I’ve just watched the Dark Tourist episode on the Stans. Fascinating in that as didn’t know that Dark Tourism was a ‘thing’. I’ve done a bit of what I’d like to call ‘history tourism’ rather than ‘dark’. I think if anything it put me off Turkmenistan! But still I will probably watch the rest of the series…..
Jacqui

Jacqui, I hadn't heard of Dark Tourist either. 😂 I'm planning to watch it tonight so I guess I'll find out. I also have mixed emotions about that place. In one way, I don't really want to contribute to a very repressed government. I even thought twice about going to Budapest, although I feel better now that Orban is gone.

It just sounds like it would be a lot of trouble to get there, and I'm not sure I'm willing to commit that much time and effort. I was actually thinking I might take some time and visit Turkey again afterwards or before. I'll probably fly Turkish Air anyway, and I could spend some extra time in Istanbul. I think they have some kind of layover program that's similar to Icelandair. I'll have to check into that.

Glad you can watch online, and thanks for the Dark Tourism mention--I'll have to add it to our Netflix list!

I had intended to already have gone and returned to Uzbekistan on my own for a month, but due to a health blip and a review of their health care, I decdecided to delay it until I knew how future reactions would be. Health care there isn't as accessible as countries with 2 tier health systems for all my other countries visited.
I will say that given the limited easy to access cities in some countries of the Stan's, an for a few personal reasons, my balance of effort and reward meant that a longer emersion in Uzbekistan was my preference.
I belong to an Over 60 solo woman travel FB group and Uzbekistan in particular comes up as an easy solo DIY trip.
Caravanstan is a great resource as would be TripAdvisor forums.
Sovietistan by Erica Fatland was a dry but informative read that actually helped make my decisions for me of where to go. It's a tome, but as I got it from my library system and just kept persevering through it. It is also a little dated, 2014, so do keep that in mind particularly in countries with new political leaders and leadership.

I have a friend who is there now (she is traveling independently) - I have long wanted to go especially to Uzbekistan, and her photos show how absolutely gorgeous it is. I guess I need to go to Cologne when she is back and get her to feed me all her tips !!

Maria, thanks for the info, although I'm sorry you didn't get to make your trip. Hopefully you will at some point.

Kim, I hope you'll come back here after Cologne and share your friend's tips!

Just saw a post today on NYT about Uzbekistan. (link deleted, see below)

I have access through work but can't share a paid version, sorry.

ETA: thanks Mardee for posting unlocked version below!

Joy, that’s so funny. I just got finished reading that article on the NYT and was coming over here to post it and saw that you beat me to it. I will go ahead and put a gift article here so that those who don’t have a subscription can read it. Excellent article! And the author of the article is telling people in the comments that if anyone has any questions, to ask him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/travel/uzbekistan-central-asia-tourism-tashkent-samarkand.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qlA.9SU_.I0kyQTreCKjL&smid=nytcore-ios-share (Unlocked)

A great read indeed! I don’t know if it will be 2027 or 2028 for me. But I hope it remains somewhat “raw” until I go. With social media and so-called “influencers”, I find some places are just getting overwhelmed with Instagram tourism.

Thanks, Mardee!

We have a great new supermarket in Manhattan (sibling of the original in Brooklyn) called Tashkent.....I often buy their plov to eat at home for dinner.....looks like the one in the photo but without the pomegranate seeds!

Great article, thank you..looks easy to travel there alone..

We would love to visit Mongolia. Maybe for the Golden Eagle Festival.

If anyone is seriously interested in Uzbekistan, the author is answering questions. I just posted something about how I was definitely going to Uzbekistan and was interested in possibly seeing some of the other Stans, but hadn't decided yet. He posted this comment:

@Mardee Several travelers I met in Samarkand had visited the Seven Lakes, just across the borden in Tajikistan, as a day trip on a guided tour. Their pictures were incredible.

TTM, you're welcome!

Joy, I know. I was thinking that I want to get there before it turns into something like the Cinque Terre. Although it probably won't get that bad, I would like to get there before it's too overrun with tourists, so I'm glad that I'm choosing next year.

ekscrunchy, it does look pretty easy to travel there. Originally, I was thinking a tour, but I've changed my mind. That restaurant sounds fabulous. That said, I have heard mixed things about the food there. Of course, I think it depends on where you go, too.

Tammy, Mongolia would be incredible!

I've been intrigued by and have thought about going to Georgia. Yes a bit west of the -stans. Will I ever get there, probably not.

I'm recommending a few books. Though it's not likely there will be many travelers to Afghanistan now there is The Finest Hotel in Kabul A People's History by Lyse Doucet. Because it is recommended for further reading in the back of that book: The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. I'm reading it now. It explains a lot about what is going on in current world events even though the events in the book go back more than 200 years. It's history but it reads somewhat like a John Le Carre novel.

I lived and toured around Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for a summer and fall in 2022. Personally, my advice is to tour yourself around.

Biggest single tip: Learn how to read the Cyrillic alphabet before going and optionally, some Kazakh. There are a few languages in the area, but all are very similar (except Tajik, that's a Persian language). You will be well served by learning some Kazakh beforehand (though the Uzbeks might laugh at your over-pronunciation of "j"s) because the word order of Turkic languages is NOT like English. e.g. "I right now to you a reply am writing". A bit of pre-practice goes a long way.

Must see places: Almaty and its surrounding mountains. Caspian Sea (Aktau and Mangistau), Uzbek cultural centres (Khiva, Nukus, Bukhara, Samarkand), Tajik mountains (Fan range, Tajik National Park), Kyrgyz nature, valleys and high plateaus.

Coolest thing I saw someone do but didn't do myself: A French couple had rented a 4x4 vehicle and drove all around Kyrgyzstan. I think this sounds really good, but some parts are quite remote, so if a guide is more comfortable for you I'd do that instead. However, the Kyrgyz highlands in autumn are red with colour and sound gorgeous.

Honestly some of the best, safe and enjoyable travel I've done. Highly recommend.

Thanks, Sal—great tips to know! It sounds beautiful.

We would love to visit Mongolia. Maybe for the Golden Eagle Festival.

Tammy, my niece is going to Mongolia in late August and has promised to give me details of her trip. I'll be sure and pass them on.

Hi Mardee, this is Steven, I am one of the two people behind Caravanistan. I accidentally came across this post and just wanted to say thank you for your kind words!

To your point: We are very aware that tourism is a double-edged sword so we're all about quality tourism where both the people visiting and the people receiving visitors get something valuable from the experience. As Central Asia receives more visitors year after year, that's really where our focus is.

I am just redoing the website to really try to get that point across - with much more information available now and many people using AI chatbots to plan their trip, it's another challenge to guide people in the right direction (and bring in people who book with us) so I am thinking a lot about that.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out, Mardee. Thanks again!

I accidentally came across this post

Nah, not accidentally. Some good analytics, perhaps?

Thanks, Steven, for stopping by. It really is a wonderful site with a lot of information. I’m traveling right now but will start doing active trip planning when I get back in a few weeks and I look forward to visiting the site again. And I definitely appreciate the thoughtfulness and detail you have in there. Good luck with the changes!