Reviews

Scenic Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan with cultural Uzbekistan

A lot to see on this whirlwind tour,stunning scenery in Kyrgyzstan, busy Almaty in Kazakhstan and a lot of mosques,minarets and mausoleums.
The included lunches and dinners were very good apart from the dinner and breakfast at the yurt which was very basic and tasteless,room for improvement.
The eagle hunting demonstration is excellent something I won’t forget. The yurt stay was basic but acceptable,a bit chilly at night in June,the next morning there’s a 6km walk down to the red rocks,a very easy walk and very beautiful.
The border crossing on foot into Kazakhstan was straightforward as it’s so quiet unlike the border crossing into Uzbekistan which was pretty chaotic.
The Charyn Canyon was amazing,easy walk down to the picnic spot,you can either walk back or buy a ticket for a ride back up in a soviet truck.
Both sleeper trains were 4 berth quite tight on space for luggage,first sleeper does have food and drink available.
Uzbekistan was stunning but overwhelming with the amount of mosques,minarets and mausoleum’s visited in 4 regions,personally I wouldn’t have been bothered if Khiva had been missed off the itinerary a bit of a tourist trap.

Amazing tour of 3 of the Stans!

This trip exceeded my expectations in many ways! There is so much to see and enjoy on this tour. It is a tale of two halves: the first half, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, focus more on the stunning scenery and nature. The beauty of Kyrgyzstan was a revelation to me. And the Eagle-hunting workshop was an absolute highlight for everyone in the group. I did also enjoy the ‘brutalist beauty’ of Bishkek (expect your first day to be a long day, as you land in the morning and do a city tour in the afternoon – I basically skipped a night’s sleep, but it was worth it!). A personal highlight for me was the walk from the yurt camp (most of the group cited the overnight stay in a yurt as their highlight) to the red rocks – absolutely stunning. The Grand Canyon in Kazakhstan was also a great experience. The second half of the trip, Uzbekistan, is more cultural: you will see many impressive mausoleums, madrasas and mosques. Samarkand especially blew me away! Khiva is also very beautiful but seems a bit more geared towards tourists – it was definitely more expensive than other parts of Uzbekistan, although still cheap. In Tashkent we also visited a market and some metro stations, which was a little different and a very interesting interlude. There is just so much to see and do. Some might find the many mausoleums a bit repetitive towards the end, but I found they all had something different to offer and it truly is a unique opportunity to visit these beautiful places before it gets to overcrowded with tourists (especially Uzbekistan is geared towards receiving more tourists and is getting more coverage in the international press as an up and coming tourist destination!).

An amazing holiday

This is a fast paced holiday, with lots of places to be and even more things to see. Every day brings new wonders. Our whole, lovely group, said that they had taken far more photos than they had expected to. The scenery, especially in Kyrgyzstan, is awesome. The buildings, and statues, are built on an epic scale. Countryside, cityscape, desert landscape, lakes this holiday has it all. One of our group summed it up “Before I came people asked me “Where? Why on earth would you go there?” Now I would reply “why on earth wouldn’t you”. There are long drive (with plenty of stops) and early starts but that’s what allows you to see so much. The train rides in Uzbekistan added to the feel of adventure. I’m in my sixties, and I like my sleep, I certainly never expected to actually enjoy being woken in the middle of the night to travel to the station, catch a sleeper train and back to sleep for three hours! When I woke I was in the middle of a desert, with a glorious red sunrise shining across the land and it was stunning. If you’re thinking about this holiday then book it asap. Oh and the food in all three countries was fantastic.

Fantastic journey across Central Asia

The Silk road tour offered everything I expected and more. From the alpine scenery in Kyrgyzstan to the deserts of Uzbekistan, each day was a new adventure with something new to experience. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan seemed untouched by mass tourism and even Uzbekistan was fairly quiet compared to other destinations I’ve visited previously. Hotels were good quality with a variety of room types and location, included meals were all of a high standard and the guides were excellent.
There were plenty of WOW moments throughout this itinerary.

The Silk Road

This trip was, without doubt, an experience of a lifetime. Yes, it is fast-paced and there are some early starts and full days, but I look back now over the two weeks and I am genuinely staggered by the number of experiences we packed into our time in this fascinating part of the world. Watching eagle hunters at work (and holding a golden eagle myself), visiting stunning mosques and Orthodox churches, walking through the awe-inspiring Charyn Cannon (Kazakhstan), exploring Almaty and being taken to see the very interesting Tashkent metro stations, climbing a minaret in Khiva to gaze into Turkmenistan… I can honestly say that this trip made the most of our time there, and the itinerary is well planned to take into account different interests and needs of guests.

Accommodation is clean, comfortable and full of local character. I don’t recognise the description in a previous review of ‘mediocre’ establishments – that was not my experience at all.

If you are interested in learning more about an often-forgotten part of Asia, definitely go for this trip – I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Amazing destination spoilt by Exodus

Unfortunately I cannot recommend using Exodus to visit this incredible part of the world. Here’s 10 reasons why.

ITINERARY
1. Exodus have recently changed this itinerary, shortening the time spent in Kyrguzstan and Kazakhstan and adding an extension to Khiva. The first half of the new itinerary is abso-****ing-lutely stupid in these time scales, and the second half (likely due to timetable changes beyond Exodus’ control) invloves stupid logistics every single time you move between destinations. There are FIVE days where some form of overnight train travel/a pre-5am start or post-midnight arrival are included, and guests are expected to do a full day of sightseeing without the chance to catch up on rest. I’m energetic, in my late 30s and used to fast travel, but this was thoroughly unpleasant
2. Amount of travel time for first week was grossly mis-described by sales rep: first week was 6-8 hours every day on the bus (except one day which was only two hours), and the rep told me it was about half that. There’s no way I would have booked this trip knowing how much of it was on a bus
3. Doing the border crossing from Kazakhstan to Uzebekistan on foot rather than getting the through train between countries is stupid. If that through train has been cancelled it would make much more sense to fly between the two countries, rather than expecting guests to do an overnight train, get up at something stupid like 4am to drive to the border, engage in a 2-hour scrum fight to cross the border, and then take a 3 hour bus at the other side
4. Uzbek guide spent 1-4 hours every day (average 2 hours per day) taking the group to vendors where he clearly gets a kickback. I booked a cultural trip, not a shopping trip, and this infuriated me.

EXODUS COMPETENCE
5. Sales rep LIED – a bare faced, out-and-out lie – about the reason for the itinerary change. When I asked about it (and I pressed at length) she insisted the reason for speeding up the first week and adding on Khiva was because people were so keen on Khiva. Turns out that is completely untrue; it’s simply because Bukhara airport became inconvenient for Exodus to use. The previous itinerary seems like it would have been much more sensibly paced, and wouldn’t have involved a 3am start and a 6-hour night train to Khiva – and as usual, following little to no sleep, the group were expected to do a full day of sightseeing
6. Exodus were very slow (2 days) to confirm whether there would be an itinerary change following an airport closure, which meant it was impossible for me to sort out my own travel arrangements in a sensible timeframe. This was one week before travel, and I was left with literally a 2-hour window to make changes after Exodus had finalised their own plans. Even worse, they were slow and not proactive in communicating about what was going on. The trip support guy was lovely when I called and he tried to be helpful, but Exodus’ logistics team weren’t anywhere near fast enough so his hands were tied

FOOD, ACCOMMODATION AND VALUE FOR MONEY
7. This trip represents poor value for money, given how cheap hotels we stayed in were to book direct
8. Location of most (about two thirds) of the hotels was poor
9. Quality of most of the hotels was mediocre vs. the trip price

It’s a real shame, because I loved the countries and the first guide.

All in all, everything about this trip felt like it was designed to maximise Exodus’ profits at the expense of guests’ comfort, sanity, and level of sleep. No way on earth I would consider doing this trip or any other with them – I’m sure there are better operators and better itineraries available.

Most Inspirational Moment

These are really, really wonderful countries with a fascinating history. Overall I enjoyed the trip, but's that's in spite of and not thanks to Exodus.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Historical knowledge of both guides was very strong and both were very professional and competent. First guide was wonderful and created a great atmosphere, but the second guide didn't engage with the group personally and didn't bother to learn a single person's name.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't let this review put you off going - just think carefully about who you go with. Oh and a note for veggies - I'm vegetarian and was worried about this but the food was fine! There was always something veggie available, and often it was very good. But do brace yourself for a lot of soups, salad and bread, and for meat to be snuck into places you wouldn't expect.

Reply from Exodus

We’re genuinely grateful for Lucie taking the time to leave a review of her experience on our trip to Central Asia, though it is a huge matter of regret to learn that her time there wasn’t at all as positive as we would hope.

 

As we mention in our trip notes, this is a busy and fast-paced tour which allows our customers to take in the highlights of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan within a relatively short timeframe. As such, we explain that there are long days and early starts, and we feel that this serves to accurately set our customers’ expectations; we would disclose that, for departures operating with our new itinerary from June 2024 onwards, clients responding to our post-trip surveys rated their overall trip experience at an average of 4.28 out of 5, and the itinerary of the trip at a similarly high 4.23 out of 5, which means the vast majority of our customers rated their trip and itinerary as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

 

We are, however, saddened that Lucie didn’t feel the same way about the itinerary, and we will certainly bear her feedback in mind going forward.

 

Regarding the border crossing into Uzbekistan, we are reluctant to use internal flights for several reasons. It would add to the cost of the trip for our customers, while also being considerably poorer from a sustainability perspective; moreover, we feel that the purpose of adventure travel is to experience the authentic side of a destination, which internal flights would bypass. We explain the border crossing process in our trip notes for Days 7 and 8 to let our customers decide whether this experience is something for them.

 

To touch on the reasons for the itinerary change, we must make clear that Lucie’s sales representative was correct when she explained why we added the visit to Khiva for this trip. We previously listed Khiva as an optional extension for our Silk Road departures, but as it is one of the highlights of the region, we received a huge amount of feedback from customers recommending it be added to the regular itinerary, which we listened to and actioned. We believe that adding Khiva strengthens the itinerary overall and allows our groups to get the most out of their time in Central Asia, and it has generally been a very positively received addition. However, we’re sorry if Lucie did not feel that same way and regret that she was given the wrong idea about the reasons for the change.

 

It was a real shame for us to read that Lucie was unimpressed with the hotels on this trip, and that she felt that value for money overall was poor. The scores we receive from our clients who’ve travelled on our Silk Road trips are on average 3.93 out of 5 for value for money, and 4.05 out of 5 for accommodation, which, again, means that the majority of clients are indicating that these aspects of the trip were ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. We feel that, given the expert leaders we employ, the clean and comfortable properties our groups stay in, and the huge amount they get to see and experience, this trip offers very reasonable value; however, again we’re sorry that Lucie did not feel the same way. We appreciate that value for money is a major factor for our clients, and it is something we are constantly reviewing on all our trips.

 

We were heartened and reassured to read the feedback we received in post-trip surveys from other members of Lucie’s group, which indicated that this was overall a very successful and enjoyable departure. However, as we say, we are genuinely sorry that this was not Lucie’s experience; we very much hope that she saw some amazing sights and had some unforgettable experiences in Central Asia which made the trip as a whole worthwhile.

 

– Thomas Manchester, Exodus Product Manager

Brilliant trip!

Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan were totally unexpected, smart Russian built cities and beautiful ‘alpine’ scenery with it’s snow capped mountains, rushing streams and waterfalls, lakes and flower meadows! Uzbekistan, more as expected with lovely monuments – Khiva not to be missed!

Excellent in spite of an emergency

Excellent 2 weeks in central Asia which i thoroughly recommend to others. The first week was in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan – lots of outdoor activities. The second week in Uzbekistan was more sightseeing which was a good contrast. very nice group of fellow travellers.

Perhaps some more about how the Silk Road functioned explained during the trips.

Very interesting trip spoiled by petty officialdom. The guides were very good, and the trip well organised. Would recommend.

The long and winding road

Some spectacular landscapes, fantastic Islamic architecture, fascinating markets – and some very long minibus journeys on bumpy roads