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Travel to Uzbekistan or other "Stans" in September 2019

Any suggestions for travel to Central Asia would be welcome: tour operators, itineraries, weather conditions, not-to-miss, etc.
Thanks!

Posted by
449 posts

Have a friend who is interested in that part of the world, he has used the tour group Voyages Jules Verne. www.vjv.com. They are a UK based company, the headline cost of the tours includes airfares from the UK but they also quote a price excluding airfare so you make your own way there. My friend's next trip with them is to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - I'm interested to see how that goes …..

There are several more UK based tour groups who go to that part of the world, I can try to list them if that is of help. But I'm sure there must be many more options in the US.

Posted by
28 posts

Thanks Katie! We are trying to avoid US companies as we find the prices start at double what a local, on-the-ground tour company charges.

Posted by
4525 posts

If you are male, you may or may not get much out of this link, but a regular travel blogger I follow went to the 'Stans' 2 years ago and has planning tips and things to consider. https://blog.women-on-the-road.com/tag/centralasia/
I think a good amount of the info is not gender specific, but just gloss over the stuff that is ;-)

Posted by
7049 posts

I would start with some good books (Lonely Planet etc.) - you'll get a lot more substantive info that way. Hopefully they will list some good local tour operators, or else you'll just have to go with the flow until you get on the ground. I agree that getting any tour operator from the US just means a big markup and, in the end, they'll likely use local guides anyway.

Posted by
16893 posts

I believe Uzbekistan has relaxed their visitor visa process, but it still warrants checking out in advance.

LyubaTour is a small but very well-traveled company based in Bulgaria, who co-produce Rick's Bulgaria tour. They have a few itineraries for you to consider at https://lyuba.tours/we-explore/. I did an excellent Kyrgystan+Kazakhstan tour with Yuri two years ago (not an exact duplicate of any current schedule).

Posted by
97 posts

Several years ago we used an Uzbeki travel agency called Advantour for our trip to Central Asia. The agency was easy to work with and put together a great trip.

Neil