A tour of the cities of vanished civilizations

Thanks to the Xtrail guides for organizing and leading our trip to the ancient cities of Uzbekistan. We were all delighted with the tours of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva. We highly recommend them!

The Uzbek vibe in all its beauty.
Those 7 days in Uzbekistan are still spinning in my head.
We started right away with the mountains. We headed to Chimgan, and it was the perfect decision. After a long flight, we were greeted by fresh air and cool weather. We climbed higher, looked out over the ridges, had rice soup and shashlik in some yurt, and realized we had already fallen in love. The mountains here are completely different: soft, green, not intimidating.
Then we went down to Tashkent. The city turned out to be a pleasant surprise: modern, with huge bazaars where your eyes run wild. In the evening we sat in a teahouse, ate plov and shashlik, drank green tea, and didn't want to leave anywhere anymore.
And then it took off. Samarkand… Registan is simply out of this world.
Bukhara is a universe of its own. Narrow streets, old courtyards, the Lyabi-Hauz square where people drink tea in the evening and nothing is rushed. Time really slows down there.
And the finale: Khiva.
In short, one of the tastiest and most heartfelt trips in recent years. Uzbekistan hooks you strongly and quickly.

On behalf of our whole cheerful group, I want to express sincere gratitude to the entire X-Trailtour team, and especially to Evgeny Shabanov, for the unforgettable excursions to the Jade Lakes and Aksagata Canyon! Your professionalism, positivity and attention to detail made our trip unforgettable. The stunning, breathtaking views of these places will stay in our memory forever. Thank you for your work and for caring about every participant of the tour.
We wish you continued success and prosperity. We are planning a tour next year with X-Trailtour.

It was a pleasure spending time with such a wonderful guide. Evgeny showed us everything we asked for. We recommend him!

We want to say a huge thank you to Victoria for these wonderful two days! ❤️ Thanks to her, we didn't just see the beautiful sights of Tashkent, we truly immersed ourselves in the history, culture and traditions of Uzbekistan. We learned a lot of interesting things, tried national dishes and felt the special atmosphere of this amazing country.
And special thanks to Victoria for her responsiveness and willingness to help! In some situations she literally saved us, helped us sort out our problems and did everything to make the trip comfortable and leave us with only pleasant impressions and lots of great photos))
Thank you for introducing us to Uzbekistan, for your attention and your warm, heartfelt approach 🥰🫶

Our family and our friends (including 2 kids) enjoyed a a day tour to Sukok. Unfortunately the weather was not co-operating, it kept raining the whole day and due to this the whole rode in the mountains was muddy and slippery. But Evgeni´s excellent guidance, positivity and knowledge of the scenery made the day a most memorable for everybody despite some rides on the bottom :DWe ate the local "Green Somsas" on the way, drank water from the mountain well, crawled through the cave and inhaled the amazingly fresh air.On another day we also had lunch at a huge pilaff restaurant and after that a fascinating tour in the city. Evgenii is very competent and tells interesting stories. Everything ran smoothly and in a very friendly atmosphere, the tour bus was excellent and the driver super helpful. So we can only support your choise of Xtrail Tour!

Thank you to Evgeny Shabanov for two tours, of Tashkent and its surroundings. Yesterday we headed out of the city — we visited the Amirsoy mountain resort, saw the Charvak Reservoir, the village of Khodjikent with its 850-year-old plane trees, ancient petroglyphs, and the Institute of Solar Physics. Our emotions were off the charts — the cable car, the vast expanse of water, seeing walnuts growing on trees for the first time, and even picking some to take home! We felt like stalkers exploring the Institute of Solar Physics. Today’s city tour turned our walk into a fairy tale! We walked all day long, saw all the main sights, monuments, and squares, tried national dishes at a café, and even managed to buy tickets to a local theater! It was fascinating to learn about the country’s history, customs, and traditions, how people live today, and how the monuments on one and the same pedestal kept changing, and we saw lots of mosaics on buildings. We visited Chorsu Bazaar, saw new products being made there today, and learned how they came about. We explored a mahalla and were even invited into a courtyard. The day flew by, and we’ll definitely come back to Uzbekistan to travel with Evgeny and his team to other cities and neighboring countries.

My wife and I, along with Evgeny, completed the hike to Yukhin Peak.

Let me say up front: the whole time it felt as if we had asked a friend who knows tourism and the mountains inside out to organize this trip for us.

Before the hike, I had a rather superficial idea of what awaited us. But in the end, everything turned out to be much easier, tastier, and more comfortable than I expected. Despite acclimatization and the physical exertion, we confidently completed all the stages of the planned itinerary and reached Yukhin Peak.

There were times when we felt tired. But the fatigue quickly evaporated as more and more mesmerizing panoramas of the Pamirs opened up before our eyes.

Zhenya was there throughout the entire route, offering advice on how to best adapt to the altitude and load, and helping with organizational matters.

Great views, a great guide — our adventure had it all 😁