Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan itinerary advice

[lesstravelled]

Hello Travellers
I am excited to soon be going to CENTRAL ASIA – UZBEKISTAN & KYRGYZSTAN – from 28 JUNE 2016 for 3 weeks.
Arriving in Tashkent.
Flexible re Departure City - Almaty or Bishkek - TBC

I am an adventurous, independent traveller who likes to take travel off the beaten path!
Australian passport
Looking split my time roughly 50/50 as follows, (but only my initial thoughts)

Would most appreciate any ITINERARY insights – words of wisdom etc!

UZBEKISTAN – Starting Tashkent
- “Standard” Silk Road cities route – Train preferred
- Samarqand
- Shakhrisabz - Day Trip
- Bukhara
- Urgench & Kiva
- Könye Urgench – Day Trip perhaps? - Turkmenistan Visa at Border ok?
NB - Perhaps fly to OR from Urgench? – rest by Train
Will need LOI for Visa.

KYRGYZSTAN – starting Osh – very rough itinerary – open to suggestions!
- Do appreciate travel logistics there are challenging – slow via buses, shared taxis etc ?
- No trains in Kyrgyzstan I understand?
- I am an experienced “rough-roads” driver – is hiring a car an option in Kyrgyzstan?

SO – THE KYRGYZ CONCEPT!
Tashkent to Osh – border crossing ok at Dustlyk/Dostyk ?
Song-Kul
Tokmok & Burana Tower
Bishkek & Ala Archa National Park
Issyk Kul – South side is better?
Karakol & Altyn Arashan
Karkara Valley – need Turkmenistan Visa ?
Charyn Canyon National Park
Almaty – END
Of course – would love to do part of the Pamir Highway
& either Irkeshtam or Torugart Pass – just not sure that is practical ?
I will need a China Visa to go to Kashgar etc.

Thanks ahead & Best regards from Australia!

[bwv812]

You won't be able to visit Konye Urgench, as you need a visa beforehand. And you won't get a transit visa if you're entering and exiting via the same country. Maybe you could arrange a 1-day tour, pay through the nose, and get a tourist visa that way.

The best train route is Tashkent-Bukhara-Samarkand-Urgench/Khiva-Tashkent, as trains don't run between Bukhara and Urgench.

You don't have enough time to do all the Kyrgyz & Kazakh stuff you want, let alone China or Tajikistan. Transport takes time, and can be difficult to arrange (Osh-Song kul will be difficult/expensive to arrange and take a full day, for example). It would probably be helpful if you broke your trip down day by day, as it would show you how little time you really have. I have you as realistically being 10 days in Uzbekistan, which leaves little time to get around Kyrgyzstan.

You can hire a car in Bishkek, but you would have to drop it back there, too.

[lesstravelled]

You won't be able to visit Konye Urgench, as you need a visa beforehand. And you won't get a transit visa if you're entering and exiting via the same country. Maybe you could arrange a 1-day tour, pay through the nose, and get a tourist visa that way.

The best train route is Tashkent-Bukhara-Samarkand-Urgench/Khiva-Tashkent, as trains don't run between Bukhara and Urgench.

You don't have enough time to do all the Kyrgyz & Kazakh stuff you want, let alone China or Tajikistan. Transport takes time, and can be difficult to arrange (Osh-Song kul will be difficult/expensive to arrange and take a full day, for example). It would probably be helpful if you broke your trip down day by day, as it would show you how little time you really have. I have you as realistically being 10 days in Uzbekistan, which leaves little time to get around Kyrgyzstan.

You can hire a car in Bishkek, but you would have to drop it back there, too.

FANTASTIC ADVICE - thank you
some small queries?

Understood now re - You don't have enough time to do all the Kyrgyz & Kazakh stuff you want
Have definitely dropped China & Tajikistan.

Seems Uzbek is more of a well-worn path
- but Kyrgyz needs more individual planning - how would you suggest best to tackle transport there?

Hire a Car? - but is routing a challenge? signage?
If no car, there are no trains, limited buses etc - so just shared taxis/cars?
hard to find, negotiate?

cheers

[bwv812]

If you really don't have much time, the quickest way is to hire a private car. Guesthouses and tourist agencies can probably arrange this, or you can show up at a share-taxi location and someone will probably offer to take you for a high price. You may well find someone at your guesthouse (or here) that wants to go the same place. This is probably something you will have to consider from Osh to Song-kul. For your sections between Karakol and Almaty, via Charyn, you will probably just show up at the taxi point and hire a car fore each leg: search the forum for info.

Between other places there is more traffic so there are fairly regular share taxis or marshrutkas. You could still end up waiting a few hours for them to fill up, though.

Between GPS maps and signage, I wouldn't worry about it being too difficult to navigate.

[lesstravelled]

Many thanks guys for your insights!