Central Asia Tour Companies

Excellent local guides, great itinerary, good hotels

I liked the trip very much. Our tour guide was great and the tour plan was very educational

Just great experience overall.

Excellent itinerary and guide, Marlis. Pace of travel, accommodation and included meals all very good. Marlis, our guide, was also very good at providing the perfect blend of modern & past history of the country, culture & sights.

I loved it :) very well planned and executed. I could just follow the lead of the driver and guides. Most guides were very well prepared and adjusted well to changes. The driver was very kind and considerate. There were some minor problems with the hot water at my last hotel but the staff fixed it quite quickly.

The seven lakes in Tajikistan was interesting. The Charyn canyon, Reina Kench guesthouse in Kyrgyzstan was lovely. All 3 cities in Uzbekistan were fascinating. The crater and Asgabat in Turkmenistan were also highlights.

Loved it all but the highlights were Samarkand (the great view from the hotel roof), the fort trip and the visit to the Ulug-Beg Observatory. Our main guide Marat was really good and informative, and the local guide in Bokhara was also particularly good.

The "guide" assigned to us from Tashkent to Bukhara was more of just an escort than an actual guide. Even as a guide, he was just "so so". We only had a good guide with real local knowledge of the sights while in Khiva. Itinerary was excellent with lots to see. Our Hotels were all also very close to the major sights with good restaurants nearby. The transport vehicles and drivers were all very good too. As there were 3 of us, the vans provided were excellent.

I highly recommend this trip. If you're considering going, don't hesitate—just go and get ready to experience the magic of Uzbekistan. You'll find respectful, knowledgeable guides, high-quality hotels, and excellent food. I return home feeling enriched. Thank you for an unforgettable, magical experience. I will never forget it.

generally ok but some specific issues that I shall comment later.

Personal guide and driver were excellent. The Orion hotel was excellent, the hotel in Karakol was best available and certainly satisfactory. The Four Seasons hotel in Cholpan Ata was a serious problem. I gave our key to our guide to check out and did not realize that there was a charge for making tea in the morning and I should have checked out myself and paid the charges. The phone in the room would not work, I went to reception and asked them to send a repairman, he came but could not fix the phone. Internet access was only provided after we requested it. I asked the receptionist how our evening meal was to be paid for she had no knowledge so I paid for it.

From September 21st to October 11th it couldn't have been better. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience traveling through these five Central Asian countries on the Silk Road. Comfortable, well led and organized by Penguin Travel. Thank you very much for the experience.

Highly recommend! What I saw, ate and heard was far beyond my expectations. The tour was well organised and covered all the most important sites and cities. Look up the pictures of sites and food online and they will not do it justice. The group was well structured and supported by our wonderful tour leader. She made sure we had a great balance of spending time as a happy group and breaking off into smaller groups when we felt like it. We made some really good friends from the group. Some of these countries are tricky to travel in. I ran into a couple of young travellers doing it for themselves in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and was very grateful for how little i had to think about or do. And they were not able to access Turkmenistan… Finally, i learnt so much about history and culture. I really believe a lot of these locations will be as flooded with tourists as the pyramids in the future. So now is the time.

We did the 5 Stans tour and were truly amazed by the beauty of these lands. The people were incredibly hospitable, the landscapes were breathtaking, and the history was rich and fascinating. We especially enjoyed the unique charm and aesthetics of the region—each place had its own special atmosphere. It was an unforgettable experience, and we’re so glad we chose this tour!

Uzbekistan was much more than what my wife, friends and I expected. Wonderful people, beautiful architecture, interesting landscape and an array of history. A wonderful trip!!! Turkmenistan was an eye opener. The capital reminded me of DisneyWorld. The northern area captivated my interest in the history of this part of the World which unfortunately is not part of the school or college curriculum in the West. The guides were: Timur an A+ As mentioned before "Not enough words to praise his professionalism, knowledge and services". His substitute that came with us to Tajikistan is still "green". The local guide in Tajikistan was also an A+. He made this part of the trip worthwhile notwithstanding it was the lesser place from the cultural point of view. The guide in Turkmenistan is excellent, somewhat shy but very nice, helpful and knowledgeable.. The crossing of the border from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan was an ordeal, out of a Kafka book In a nutshell, many thanks for organizing the tour and the visits to places I had dreamed to see!

Overall, we really enjoyed the trip. Uzbekistan offered us the best guide (Mansur) & the best historical sites to visit. Turkmenistan was problematic in a few ways. Entering & leaving the country was challenging, the roads outside Ashgabat were a nightmare, & we were forced to leave our Ashgabat hotel a day early. Our guide found us another hotel which was subpar at best. I would recommend flying from Mary to Osh to avoid the pitiful bumpy 4 hour drive from Merv to the Uzbek border. We also paid for a breakfast due to our early flight from Ashgabat to Mary. We only spent one day in Tajikistan & it was a long late drive back to Samarkand. We did stop at a nice hotel in Pentjikant, both before & after the all day 7 Lakes visit. It would have been better to spend the night at that hotel before venturing back across the border towards Samarkand. The 2 train rides in Uzbekistan were excellent as was the food throughout the trip, providing you love meat (i do). A vegetarian might be a bit challenged.

Well worth the undertaking. Thank you! Very rapid, which was predictable. Several unforeseen snaffews were handled well & calmly by guides - like all of us being booted out of the hotel in Ashgabat unexpectedly. Bureaucratic delays upon arrival in Ashgabat did not assist with the group being calmer, especially before a night of under two hours' sleep.

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The tour of a lifetime. So worth it I can’t even explain. I’ve been a lot of places, but this was a whole experience.

The Central Asia tour was extremely enjoyable and included a varied mix of history, old and new cities along the Silk Road, varied nature of canyons, mountains, lakes, deserts, and a mix of city and rural life. Wonderful people. Special thanks to our guides Svetlana and Ejesh. Our drivers, local guiedes and hosts. Thanks you, Intrepid.

A great mix of Silk Road splendours with rural retreat. Our guide Jamshed was superb and greatly facilitated our group’s interaction with the people, places and cultures we encountered. Samarkand was a dream come true and Bukhara a surprise highlight. Our group strongly recommend the hammam visit as a great bonding experience and u can’t go past a bottle of Shtoff vodka for the price of a beer!