Overnight International Flight to Ashgabat

Upon arrival at Ashgabat, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. Once you are settled in, begin your sightseeing tour of Ashgabat visiting independence-period parks and monuments, including the Neutrality Square. Afterward, visit the Old Nissa fortress (UNESCO) and Turkmenbashi Ruhy mosque and mausoleum before transferring back to your hotel.

In the morning continue your tour of the City. Today you will be visiting the Turkmen Carpet Museum, the largest and only Museum of Turkmen carpets with the best collection of antique and modern hand-made carpets. The largest carpet in the world registered in the Guinness Book of World Records is in this museum too. After that, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Mary.

Domestic Flight to Mary

Upon arrival at Mary, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel.

This morning, head north-east, towards Gonur Depe, which used to be the capital of the legendary Margush country. After about two hours, drive through fields and villages and another hour through the vast desert. We will arrive at the center of a remarkable Bronze Age civilization, an important archaeological site discovered in 1972. Gonur Depe is a palace complex represented by partly excavated earthen walls of former administrative buildings and religious structures of the Zoroastrian type. This is where first agricultural settlements appeared in the delta of Murgab River, dating as far back as 3 millennium BC. Fertile silt coming from mountains, the abundance of water, and moderate climate had created favorable conditions for good crops and the progress of the ancient economy for several centuries. After sightseeing, enjoy a picnic lunch before driving back to your hotel in Mary. Dinner at a local restaurant. (driving distance & time: 90 km/2.5-3 hrs. one way, including last 40 km of desert off-road). ...read less

After breakfast at the hotel, we will drive to Ancient Merv. Consisting of a series of cities, succeeding one another as capitals of the famous oasis, Ancient Merv is the only site of its kind in Central Asia. Being an architectural site as well as archaeological, Merv offers numerous standing monuments. This includes the oldest of still standing corrugated mud-brick "keshks", mausoleums of Sultan Sanjar and Muhammad ibn Zaid, and Arab tombs of the Prophet, Mohammed's companions. After sightseeing in Merv, drive back to Mary for lunch at local a restaurant before visiting the Mary Museum. In the evening take a return flight to Ashgabat. (driving distance & time: 30 km one way/30-40 min by car/minivan; 40 min-1 hr. by bus).

Domestic Flight to Ashgabat

Upon arrival at Ashgabat, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel.
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At the appropriate time, you will be met at your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight to Dashoguz.

Domestic Flight to Dashoguz

Upon arrival to Dashoguz, you will drive to Kunya-Urgench to visit Tyurabek Khanum mausoleum, Kutlug Timur minaret (the tallest medieval minaret of Central Asia), Il-Arslan, Soltan Tekesh, Nadjmaddin Kubra, and Soltan Ali mausoleums. After sightseeing, drive to your hotel in Dashoguz. (driving distance & time: 100 km one way/1.5 hrs. by car/minivan; 2 hrs. by bus).

At the appropriate time, you will be met at your hotel and privately transferred to the airport for your flight to Turkmenbashi.

Domestic Flight to Turkmenbashi

Upon arrival to Turkmenbashi, you will be met at the airport and start with your brief city tour visiting a local bazaar and old town area before heading to your hotel.

After breakfast at the hotel, drive to Yangykala canyons. Yangikala means "fiery fortress", which consists of white, pink and orange limestone formations, so amazing that we cannot break away from their sight, and the landscape situated beneath our feet. Soak in the views with a picnic lunch (lunch-boxes taken from BLB). Then we drive to Balkanabat. En-route visit Gozli Ata shrine. Transfer to your hotel in Awaza on arrival to Balkanabat where you will enjoy some time at leisure. Overnight at your hotel in Awaza. (driving distance & time: 200 km/2.5-3 hrs. one way). ...read less

After breakfast at the hotel, drive towards Ashgabat. En route we will stop at Parau-bibi shrine near Serdar town. Then, we will stop at Kov Ata underground lake to visit the largest cave of Kopetdag mountains (80m below sea level) and swim in the lake if you wish (water temperature 30-33 C all-year-round). From Kov Ata we proceed to Geokdepe to see a beautiful mosque built in the former Tekke stronghold. Next, we will visit a local stud farm, where you can see famous Akhalteke horses before driving to Ashgabat. Transfer to your hotel on arrival. Overnight in Ashgabat. (driving distance & time: 450 km/5-6 hrs. one way +30min-1 hr. for each stop). ...read less

This afternoon we will drive to Darvaza, a flaming gas crater known as "The Gates to Hell" with its mysterious flames. En route we will visit two other gas craters with bubbling sulfur mud with underground gasses. Arrival time to the burning crater is around sunset where we will take in the fiery glow of the crater with a picnic dinner. Drive back to your hotel in Ashgabat. (driving distance & time: ca 280 km including 10km off-road)/3.5-4 hrs. one way).

This morning, you will continue your tour of the city. Visiting the National Museum of Turkmenistan, whose halls are dedicated to various themes and historical periods. Demonstrating a rich collection of artifacts from all over Turkmenistan, including ivory rhytons from Old Nisa. The museum will also offer us reconstructed models of most of the sites that we are going to visit. Today you will also have a chance to visit some sites of Ashgabat you could not see the previous day. Overnight at a hotel in Ashgabat.

At the appropriate time, you will be met at your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight.

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