Hi everyone.
I have a question for those of who have traveled to the Caucasus and the Stans in recent years. I'm thinking of a trip for next summer (far off, I know) and want to figure out how long I'll need. My plan was to visit probably Georgia and Azerbaijan, take the ferry from Baku to Turkmenbashi, then visit the Stans. The plan there (highly tentative and subject to your input) would be to cross through Turkmenistan to the Silk Road sites in Uzbekistan, then do some hiking/adventure stuff in Tajik/Kyrgyzstan before flying out of Almaty.
My question: how long is reasonable for each big leg of the trip (Caucasus vs. the Stans). One friend suggested that in two weeks, I could get a decent flavor for Georgia and Azerbaijan, with enough time to see a lot of highlights. He also said that three weeks would give enough time to see a fair bit of Central Asia, if I was not spending more than a couple of days in both Turk/Kazakhstan.
For those of you who have done this before, does this seem reasonable given distances, quality of travel, and the number of sites? How long did you travel to these places?
Thanks!
Haven't (yet) been to Tajikistan, Georgia or Azerbaijan, but for the other stans:
Turkmenistan: either transit visa, in which case you'll dash through fairly quickly (max 5 days including the days you enter/exit), or a tour. I did a 6 day tour with Stan Tours - Iran border (Sarakhs) - Mary/Merv - Ashgabat - Darvaza - Konye Urgench - Uzbekistan border.
Uzbekistan: two weeks is enough to see Nukus + Moynaq, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz (sp?), and Tashkent, at a fairly leisurely pace. Could probably be done in 10 days or three weeks depending on how long you want to spend there.
Kyrgyzstan: again I spent two weeks here - Bishkek, Issyk Kol / Karakol, Arslanbob, Osh, then over the Irkeshtam to China. Add more time if you want to do some walking / trekking.
Kazakhstan: if you're only going to Almaty then a couple of days is plenty.
Hope that helps. Although you probably want to get all the visas in advance, it's easy to get 30-day visas for Uzbekistan / Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan, which allows you to overlap them quite a bit if only planning a couple of weeks in each country. You can then adjust your trip as you go, depending on how you feel. Obviously this doesn't apply to Turkmenistan so easily (especially if on a tour - dates are fixed).
Steve
About two to two and a half weeks is more than enough for uzbekistan, nothing stopping you doing it in as little as 10 days really, kyrgyzstananywhere from a week to two weeks is good, but if you've really got a hard-on for trekking you could spend an extra week easy. Kazakhstan is a lovely place and I don't know how much detail the new guide book goes into but its a place to truly explore as it really opens up, ideally allow three weeks.
Dunno about taj or the caucasian places...
cheers, luke
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