Nukus Tour: Art, Masters, and the Cultural Heritage of Karakalpakstan

Thank you, Evgeny, for organizing such an unforgettable trip and introduction to Uzbekistan. We liked everything, especially the food

We spent two days on tours with our guide Evgeny — and it was wonderful!

The first day — Tashkent.
The city made an incredible impression: modern, spacious, green and very atmospheric. The tour was perfectly balanced — Evgeny did not overload us with unnecessary information but managed to convey the essentials: the spirit of the city, its history, character and mood. We saw all the main sights, learned many interesting facts, had a delicious meal at the Plov Center and got useful tips on where else to go. Evgeny even suggested routes and ideas for our next days in Samarkand — special thanks for that!

The second day — the Chimgan mountains.
It had a completely different mood, and that was wonderful. The trip into nature gave us new emotions: mountains, fresh air, stunning scenery. We took the cable car up to the Amirsoy ski resort, enjoyed amazing views, and then went paragliding over the Charvak reservoir — an unforgettable feeling of freedom and beauty. On the way back, on Evgeny's recommendation, we stopped at a cozy café and tried incredibly delicious Uzbek dishes.

In short:
Huge thanks to Evgeny for his professionalism, attention, friendliness and two wonderful days in the city and in the mountains. The tours left only the warmest and brightest impressions. We definitely recommend him.

I’ve traveled with Zhenya Shabanov several times now: we hiked Patandezbashi, went to Turkmenistan together, and most recently did a seven-day trip through the Fann Mountains. He organizes every trip end to end, taking each participant’s interests into account. On our trek he lent everyone his own tents and sleeping bags and took care of the meals; when we went to Turkmenistan — that was back in 2024, when it had only just opened up to tourists — he told us all about his own experience there and put all our worries to rest. Plus, Zhenya is simply fun and interesting to be around — he’s incredibly well-read and always has an amusing story to share. I highly recommend Zhenya!

Huge thanks to Evgeny for organizing and leading a private one-day tour for my sister and me! A leisurely walk in the mountains in pleasant, informative company, enjoying the incredible scenery, feeling the power and might of a waterfall, flying a paraglider, and coming away with unforgettable impressions of the time we spent: it was all unforgettable!!! Everything was very well organized, professional, safe and comfortable! Our expectations were met 100% and even a little more! :)
Evgeny is a very attentive guide who senses what his guests want and knows how to build comfortable routes. Next time I will only contact him, and I recommend him to everyone! :)

First of all — we loved everything!

Tour of almost the entire country, two adults, 9 days, mid-April.

Initially, we were looking for package tours to cover as much ground as possible in a short period of time. We stumbled upon XtrailTour, represented by Evgeny Shabanov, while researching options around the Aral Sea. Evgeny quickly got involved and offered assistance in organizing the sightseeing itinerary and logistics not only for the Aral Sea but also for all the other cities and places we were interested in.

As a result, we had a wonderful individual tour of almost all the main attractions of Uzbekistan: Tashkent (+ the Institute of Solar Physics, Amirsoy, Charvak Reservoir) -> Samarkand -> yurt camp near Lake Aydarkul -> Gijduvan -> Bukhara -> Urgench -> Khiva -> Nukus -> Muynak -> yurt camp on the Aral Sea -> Nukus -> Tashkent

Once we'd agreed on everything on our “wish list”, Evgeny put together an itinerary for the entire route with contacts for the guides and transfers.

Great guides, good transfers, everything is very flexible, Evgeny and everyone else are always in touch.

Considering the tight time frame for preparing the tour, the many moves between cities, and the sometimes major changes we made to the itinerary along the way — there were no problems anywhere (we booked the hotels and some of the domestic transfers ourselves).

Communication was mainly via Telegram with everyone.

Getting around the country — transfers arranged by Evgeny, the Afrosiyob high-speed train, domestic flights, Yandex Taxi.

Let me emphasize once again that, as an individual tour, everything was as flexible and convenient for us as possible (wait for us here, let us take more time for photos there, let's also visit this place, etc.).

I would like to separately highlight the guides in Bukhara (Albina) and on the Aral Sea (driver Kasym and guide Ajiniyaz).

We saw almost everything we wanted (the weather made some adjustments). Without any incidents.

Very positive overall impression of the tour and the country as a whole!

I highly recommend XtrailTour and Evgeny.

We were offered a trip to the Nurata mountains, to the villages of Sentob and Majrum. We had hiked the mountains around Charvak many times and wanted something new and fresh. Huge thanks to Evgeny for showing us this wonderful place. These places were magical. Every village is full of its own history, way of life and beautiful scenery. We want to go back with our family, despite the long road there.

Evgeny took us on an unforgettable hike to the Gulkam Gorge — everything was done at the highest professional level, and he told us a lot about the area, its history, and its plants (very interesting).
I recommend it to everyone!

I've traveled frequently with this organization throughout Uzbekistan and even Tajikistan. The service was top-notch, the guides were pleasant, and, as a regular customer, I received a discount, which made my visit with XtrailTour even more enjoyable.