Turkmenistan Summer Tour

Itinerary

1. Day One

   Arrive into Ashgabat

   • Arrive into Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat and transfer to the hotel.

   • Day spent at leisure.

   • Overnight in Ashgabat.

    

2. Day Two

   Tour of Ashgabat

   • We’ll spend a full day exploring the capital city, visiting sites such as The Tower of Neutrality, Turkmenbashy Ruhy Mosque, Independence Monument Alem Centre (including the Ferris Wheel) and Berkarar shopping centre.

   • Evening at leisure.

   • Overnight in Ashgabat.

    

3. Day Three

   Darvaza “The Gates of Hell”

   •  We’ll have the morning to relax around the capital.

   • In the afternoon, we drive to the fiery Darvaza gas crater. We’ll go off-road across huge desert dunes to see the old craters; one filled with water and the other mud, finally arriving at Darvaza early evening. With the setting sun and glow from the crater, you can see for miles in every direction.

   • Our local team will prepare dinner whilst we take this time to relax and enjoy the massive campfire-like aura of “The Gates of Hell”.

   • Overnight in ger camp near the crater.

    

4. Day Four

   Archaeological site of Nisa

   • In the morning we’ll depart Darvaza and head back along the same road to Ashgabat, stopping at the UNESCO archaeological site of Nisa en route.

   • Nisa has mud brick remains of fortifications and palaces, temples, ceremony halls and treasury buildings. It covers the remains of the Parthian civilisation, which combined traditional Turkmen art and culture with Greek and Roman elements. Nisa is presumed to be the first capital of Parthia.

   • Arrive back into Ashgabat late afternoon and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

   • Overnight in Ashgabat.

    

5. Day Five

   Turkmenbashy

   • Early morning we will transfer to Ashgabat Airport for our domestic flight to Turkmenbashy.

   • Upon arrival into the city we’ll visit the bazaar and spend the day at leisure.

   • Overnight in Turkmenbashy.

    

6. Day Six

   Yangy Kala

   • Today we’ll drive to Yangy Kala; arguably the most breathtaking and incredible natural sight in Central Asia. The south eastern border area of Gara Bogaz Gol Bay has spectacular views of the former sea bed of the Tethys Sea and canyons of bizarre shapes and a variety of colours.

   • After exploring the region, we will drive to Balkanabat, check into the hotel and have the evening at leisure.

   • Overnight in Balkanabat.

7. Day Seven

   Nohur

   • After breakfast, we will drive to the Kopetdag Mountain range, first visiting the Parau Bibi pilgrim site.

   • Next we drive towards Nohur village; leaving the asphalt road at Archman, we ascend into the mountains. Experience the old traditional way of life as we meet the villagers and have a short site-seeing tour.

   • Stay overnight in homestay.

    

8. Day Eight

   Kov-Ata and Akhal-Teke horses

   • In the morning we’ll depart Nohur and start our drive to back to Ashgabat, first visiting the underground cave of Kov-Ata for an optional swim. The cave features a unique hot-water sulphur lake which is 35C all year round.

   • Later, we proceed to an Akhal-Teke private horse farm. The Akhal-Teke horses are one of the most prized breeds in the world. It is believed they are the last remaining strain of the Turkman horse, which has existed since 2400BC.

   • In the evening we’ll head out for a final farewell dinner in the capital.

   • Overnight in Ashgabat.

    

9. Day Nine

   Flight home / Optional Extension

   • Early morning we will be transferred to Ashgabat Airport for our flights home.

   • For those taking the optional extension to Merv and Gonur Depe, we will depart Ashgabat early morning by domestic flight to Mary (formally known as Merv).

   • We’ll drive over desert roads to the Margush Bronze Age capital, Gonur Depe. The Greek-Russian archaeologist Viktor Sariandi hadbeen excavating the site from 1972 until his death in 2013 and excavation work is still ongoing and new discoveries are being found daily.

   • After a day of sightseeing we will return to Mary to have the evening at leisure.

   • Overnight in Mary.

    

10. Day Ten

    Ancient Merv

    • After breakfast we’ll head out to visit the UNESCO site of Ancient Merv; the biggest archaeological site in Central Asia. Merv was an important destination along the ancient Silk Route and was briefly the world’s biggest city during the 12th Century.

    • We will visit a range of sites such as Alexandria Margiana (Erk Kala), Antiochia Margiana (Gyaur Kala) remains and Sultan Kala.

    • In the evening we head to Mary Airport to take the domestic flight back to Ashgabat, arriving at approximately 21:00.

    • We’ll be taken to a nearby hotel to freshen up and relax before being transferred back to the airport for our early morning departure flights tomorrow.