Contrasts of Turkmenistan: Ashgabat — Darvaza — Nohur

Day 1

Arrival in Ashgabat

• Departure for Ashgabat.
• Arrival. Entry visa at the airport, customs formalities.
• Meeting with the guide holding a LATIF sign. Transfer to the hotel, check-in.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 2

Ashgabat — Darvaza

• Breakfast at the hotel. Pack a small bag with essentials for the desert.
• City sightseeing tour: the Monument of Independence, the Arch of Neutrality and more.
• Visit to the Russian Bazaar.
• Departure into the Karakum desert to the Darvaza gas crater, formed by the collapse of a gas extraction rig. Return to Ashgabat late at night.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 3

Carpet Museum, horse farm, Nisa

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Excursion to the Carpet Museum.
• Visit to a private horse farm to see the world-famous Akhal-Teke horses.
• Excursion to Ancient Nisa.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 4

Nokhur — Baharden — Kov-Ata

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Excursion to Nokhur: the 2,000-year-old Chinar tree, the old cemetery decorated with argali horns, and the sacred site of Kyz-Bibi.
• Departure for Baharden. Visit to the Kov-Ata underground lake: 27 minerals, +33 °C all year round.
• On the way back, a stop to photograph the Kipchak mosque, the largest in Central Asia.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 5

Departure

• Breakfast at the hotel. Hotel check-out. Transfer to Ashgabat airport. End of the programme.