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The Silk Road Travel Guide

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Home / Silk Road Travel Planning

Silk Road Travel Planning

Once past Istanbul, the world changes scale

Nicolas Bouvier

How do you start planning a Silk Road trip? How do you decide where to go, for how long, in what order, at what time of the year? Which form of transport should you take? How much will it cost?

And once you finally get there, what should you spend your time on? How do you get around? How do you talk to people? What are they like? Is it safe?

We are here to help you answer those questions. We have been traveling the Silk Road since 2008 and have been writing about it since 2011. Below, we will try to introduce you to Silk Road travel in a condensed format, and link out to some of the hundreds of articles found on this website if you want to delve in deeper.

Enjoy the trip!
Steven & Saule

Choose the open road – Pamir Highway, Tajikistan

Table of Contents

  • Quick links
  • Where is the Silk Road?
    • Where does Caravanistan come in?
  • Start planning
  • Health and safety
  • Practical details
  • Transport
  • Country guides

Quick links

Start planning

  • Basic itinerary questions
  • Books and literature
  • When to go
  • Custom tours and tour templates

Health and safety

  • Is it safe?
  • Health tips
  • Have a back-up plan
  • Travel insurance tips
  • Travel with kids
  • Single females
  • Halal travel
  • LGBT
  • Racism and sinophobia
  • Travel with pets

Practical details

  • Visas and invitation letters
  • Border crossings
  • Accommodation
  • Rules for drones
  • Food
  • Language
  • Phone and internet
  • Maps & Sending a package

Transport

  • Trains
  • Self-driving
  • Car & motorbike rental
  • Ride-hailing and taxi apps
  • Ferries: Caspian Sea – Persian Gulf – Black Sea
  • Long-distance cycling

Country guides

  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan
  • Afghanistan

Asia, so good for the heart, so bad for the nerves

Nicolas Bouvier

Where is the Silk Road?

The Silk Road is a name for an ancient network of trade routes connecting the Eurasian continent.

We can name plenty of reasons why it is not an accurate name, but the fact of the matter is, the Silk Road is a powerful brand. It immediately conjures up images of romance, exploration and exoticism. So we decided to keep that name as the tagline for our travel guide.

So which modern countries fall under this umbrella? For the purpose of this travel guide, the Silk Road starts in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan & Turkmenistan) and fans out to Iran, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia & Azerbaijan), Mongolia, Western China, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A mud volcano in Azerbaijan, a fascinating country we’d love to write more about in the future

Where does Caravanistan come in?

We write comprehensive guides on the basics of travel (visas, transport, et cetera) for the 13 countries listed above. For the 5 Stans of Central Asia, we write much more: in-depth guides to places and things to do, and background articles.

Is our travel guide any good?

Yes. Lonely Planet calls it a “peerless online travel guide to the region”, while Bradt Guides says it is ”the most comprehensive online guide to travelling the Silk Road”. Founder and editor of Wired Magazine Kevin Kelly thinks we are “highly reliable, immensely helpful, and always inspiring.”

Start planning

Once you know what is on offer, it’s time to start planning! Our itinerary page gives tips for those looking at a big East-West trip across Eurasia, as well as for anyone with a more modest time frame.

Reading is always a good way to get inspired and find ideas that can pull you deeper into a particular place or culture; we have a big list of books from travelogues to politics on the Silk Road and per country. In when to visit we discuss the weather, festivals and events to time your trip right.

If you are planning an organised trip: we can help. We specialize in finding you the right partner for custom-made tours. Have a look at some of our tour templates to get started.

A winter horseback riding tour – we can organise it for you

Health and safety

We discuss your (parents’/kids’) worries about safety in Central Asia. We have an article on how to not get sick, and on travel insurance in case something does happen. Finally, we’d like to inculcate you with the importance of having a back-up plan. Things don’t always go according to plan in Central Asia.

If you are not a single white heterosexual man, do not fret! We have advice for getting on the Silk Road with kids, with pets, as a single woman, a Muslim or as LGBT, and how to deal with racism and sinophobia on the Silk Road.

Practical details

The basics for getting into and out of these countries: visas and border crossings. Once you are there, how to get online and things to consider when selecting accommodation.

Food is always a sore topic in Central Asia, especially for vegans. How to overcome the language barrier is another difficulty.

Transport

Silk Road by train, southern Uzbekistan

Silk Road by train? It’s possible these days to idle your days away on the train from Istanbul to Urumqi.

If you are a motorist, we have articles almost as long-winded as the road you will be traveling on, about self-driving from Georgia all the way to China. If you do not have your own wheels, read our guide to car and motorbike rental first.

Then there are the ferries across the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Finally, we give some pointers for all the long-distance cyclists out there.

Country guides

We have 5 country guides, for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan where we go in-depth on places to visit and things to do.

The world is a caravanserai, with one entry and one exit

Omar Khayyam

Last updated on July 31, 2024

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Caravanistan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Made in Eurasia by Steven & Saule
2011 - 2025

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