Three Pearls of Turkmenistan

Day 1

Khiva — Dashoguz/Shavat border — Konye-Urgench

• Drive to the Uzbek–Turkmen border and cross at the Dashoguz pass.
• After the formalities, a tour of Konye-Urgench, ancient capital of the Khorezmshahs and a UNESCO World Heritage site: the caravanserai portal and Mamun minaret, the Il-Arslan and Sultan Tekesh mausoleums, the Khorezm Academy, the Kutlug-Timur minaret and the Turabek Hanum mausoleum.
• Drive to Dashoguz. Evening flight from Dashoguz to Ashgabat. Transfer to the hotel.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 2

Ashgabat and Nisa

• A full day in the white-marble capital: the Arch of Neutrality, the Monument of Independence and the Russian Bazaar.
• Drive to the Nisa fortress, sanctuary of the Parthian kings. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage site in 2007. Nisa is described as one of the first Parthian capitals, founded by Arsaces I (reigned c. 250–211 BC).
• Visit to the Turkmenbashy Ruhy mosque in Kipchak, the largest mosque in Central Asia.

Overnight: Hotel in Ashgabat

Day 3

Carpet Museum — transfer to Mary

• Check-out from the hotel.
• Excursion to the Museum of Turkmen Carpets — the largest collection of Turkmen carpets, from the medieval period to the 20th century, including one of the biggest handmade carpets in the world, certified by the Guinness Book of Records. Closed on Sundays and national holidays; open until 13:00 on Saturdays.
• Departure for Mary along the motorway. On arrival, transfer to the hotel.

Overnight: Hotel in Mary

Day 4

Ancient Merv

• Breakfast. Excursion to Ancient Merv (UNESCO) — one of the great cities of the ancient world, Mary Shahu Jahan, King of the World. For about 300 years it was the largest city in Central Asia.
• The monuments include Great and Little Gyz Gala (6th–7th c.), the Complex of Askhabs (8th–14th c.), Gyaur Gala (4th c. BC), a Buddhist stupa and monastery, the Beni Makhan mosque — the first mosque built in Central Asia (7th c.), Erk Gala (6th c. BC), Soltan Gala (11th c.) and the Sultan Sanjar and Ibn Zeid mausoleums (12th c.).
• In the afternoon, the Museum of History and Ethnography and the Orthodox church built at the end of the 19th century. A walking tour of central Mary: the regional mosque, the theatre, the Ruhiyet Koshgi centre and the monument to the poet Mollanepes.

Overnight: Hotel in Mary

Day 5

Mary — Farab border

• Drive to the Turkmen–Uzbek border via Turkmenabat, then on to the Farab crossing.
• Border formalities and crossing into Uzbekistan. End of the programme.