Jewels of the Silk Road: Almaty to Baku

Day 1 — Almaty, Kazakhstan

You are met on arrival in Almaty and driven to a centrally located hotel for one night. Kazakhstan's former capital sits right at the foot of the Tien Shan, and in the clear October light the mountains seem to begin at the end of every street. This evening the group gathers for a welcome dinner at the hotel — the first chance to meet your fellow travellers before the train journey begins.

Day 2 — Almaty — board the Golden Eagle

After breakfast a morning tour of the city takes in Panfilov Park at its centre and, inside it, the Zenkov Cathedral — a 19th-century Russian Orthodox church that ranks among the largest wooden buildings in the world and stands without a single nail. In the afternoon you board the Golden Eagle, settle into your cabin and roll out across the Kazakh countryside towards the Kyrgyz border. The first dinner on board, with fine wines, is served as evening falls.

Day 3 — Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

A long day beside Lake Issyk-Kul, the second largest alpine lake on earth, ringed by snow peaks. On the shore a festival is staged privately for the group, built around the games and skills of the nomadic steppe: horseback wrestling, hunting with golden eagles, archery and ordo, a game of tactics played with cow kneecaps. Music, dance, costume and craft demonstrations complete the picture. Afterwards there is the option of the open-air Museum of Petroglyphs before you return to the train.

Day 4 — On board the Golden Eagle

A slower day, and a welcome one. The train runs west out of Kyrgyzstan and into Uzbekistan while open plains, low hills and distant ranges slide past the windows. Spend it in your cabin, in the Bar Lounge Car with the scenery, or simply at the pace of the railway.

Day 5 — Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan's capital was largely rebuilt after the earthquake of 1966, so the city reads as Soviet modernism with an older quarter threaded through it. In the Old Town, narrow streets of traditional houses and religious buildings lead to a small library holding the Uthman Koran, revered as one of the oldest surviving copies in the world. The day also takes in the Railway Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts, with its ceramics, textiles and decorative crafts.

Day 6 — Samarkand

No name conjures the Silk Road quite like Samarkand. The day covers its great set pieces: Registan Square, the architectural heart of the city; the vast Bibi-Khanym Mosque; and the Ulugh Beg Observatory of 1428, among the earliest and most important observatories of the Islamic world. After dark you return to the Registan, lit up for a light and sound show watched from reserved seats.

Day 7 — Bukhara

Bukhara keeps one of the best preserved historic centres in Central Asia. The visit takes in The Ark, the fortified palace of the Emirs of Bukhara, and Poi-Kalyan Square with the Kalyan Mosque and its landmark minaret, followed by time in the old Trading Domes and at Lyabi-Hauz, the pool square shaded by mulberry trees. Weather permitting, the evening ends with a barbecue on the station platform before the train departs for the last time.

Day 8 — Khiva, Uzbekistan — fly to Baku, Azerbaijan

The last of the Silk Road cities is the most complete. Khiva rises out of the desert inside its own mud-brick walls, a World Heritage Site where mosques, madrassas, minarets and courtyards stand so close together that the whole town works as an open-air museum. In the afternoon a private charter flight carries the group across the Caspian to Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, for a night at a five-star hotel and the farewell dinner.

Day 9 — Baku, Azerbaijan

After breakfast you are transferred to Baku airport for your onward flight. Baku rewards a longer stay — the walled old city and the waterfront boulevard deserve more than a single evening — and we are glad to arrange extra nights and touring.