Timur is the owner of a large tour operator based in Tashkent in business since 2005. The company has its own transport fleet, and has good relationships with guides and hotels across Uzbekistan to help you get sharp prices for the best rooms and guides in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and beyond.
Timur can also arrange combination tours that cross over into the other Stans (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan) through his partners.
Last year, five friends and I went on an epic adventure to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan that was organised in close collaboration with Timur and executed with utmost professionalism by his guides.
We had the most magical experience from the moment we arrived and were picked up by our guide Bek who took us to the most beautiful places many of us had ever seen.
From the streets of Bishkek to the remoteness of Son-Kul lake, every place we went was special.
After we left Kyrgyszstan, we went to Uzbekistan for a week of cultural overload that started in Khiva and ended in Tashkent. In every city we had a different guide, all of whom were incredibly knowledgeable and allowed us to really learn about the rich history of Bukhara, Samarkand and every other place we went to.
I cannot recommend Timur enough.
Timur and Sanat Travel worked tirelessly to help me construct a solo traveler trip through both Mongolia and Uzbekistan. His contacts in Mongolia were critical and his personal/company’s hands-on efforts in Uzbekistan made my trip a success. He worked with my complicated agenda requests and budget limitations with constant, timely communication and professionalism. His local resources were equally great to deal with. All issues during the trip were resolved in an efficient, effective manner. My itinerary took me from Mongolia to Tashkent to Samarkand and the Aral Sea then on to Azerbaijan using cars, railroads, and air travel. Timur had it all under control.
I absolutely recommend Sanat Travel and Caravanistan Tours if you are considering a visit to Uzbekistan. Five stars!
I contacted Timur for a tour to the Aral lake (Uzbekistan) and everything was great.
Timur was really helpful and kind.
The tour was fantastic and the guide charming and welcoming.
I just finished a 10 day trip to Uzbekistan and thanks to Timur and his wonderful guides and drivers everything went perfectly. Aleksandar (Sasha) my guide/driver for Samarkand and the villages in the Nurata Mountains was extremely knowledgeable and was always checking to see how I felt and if I needed anything. Mrs. Dilya was my guide for Bukhara and she has a true passion for what she does.
Our trip to Aral was excellent, even if heartbreaking. Nothing prepared us for the desolation we witnessed…
The trip was organised fantastically well. We were a complicated group of four with two vegetarians and one vegan, but this was not a problem – we were served lovely vegan local food throughout the trip. The car was super-comfortable, the itinerary was well thought out. The camp where we stayed was lovely and spotlessly clean. The hosts of the camp were super nice land even treated us to some traditional singing in the evening.
The best all was our driver, Zafar, who was beyond accommodating. He did everything to make our trip absolutely super. When he realised we were interested in archaeology and history, he showed us some additional sites. Zafar is immensely knowledgable about the history, the fauna and flora of the region, he is a fantastic guide and a great story teller. We absolutely loved travelling with him and learning from him. If you speak Russian, do ask for Zafar to be your guide!
Timur has been immensely helpful organising a tour into Turkmenistan (from Uzbekistan) for us. At the planning stage, he was very patient and provided us with several different itineraries to meet our requirements and budget. He also met us in Tashkent and made sure we had everything we needed and had all the information required to cross the border into Turkmenistan. He also pointed out that our online train tickets actually needed to be redeemed at the train station before boarding the train and took us there right away to sort everything out, very helpful and saved us a lot of time! We also really enjoyed our tour in Turkmenistan – everything went ahead exactly as planned and we even got a tour guide even though we hadn’t booked one. We will certainly be in touch again when travelling back to the region!
Hi
We had an 11 day sightseeing tour arranged by Timur during May 2019. Timur was very responsive, helpful and communicated very well (using good English!) before our trip, so we were able to agree a great bespoke itinerary with him to our exact requirements, after several versions! Nothing was too much trouble for him. We had different drivers and good guides in every city (Tashkent, Samarkand, Khiva, Bukhara, Kokand) and they all arrived on time. Train and internal flight tickets were all as required. Hotels were a good standard and well located. We arranged a couple of days as ‘free time’ to do as we pleased, without a guide, and this worked well. Timur met us at the beginning and end of our holiday. We would definitely use Timur´s help again if travelling to the ‘stans.
This March, my spouse and I used Timur’s services to get ourselves to the Aral Sea, including one overnight in a yurt just above the lake shore. The local driver, who collaborates with Timur, was on time, well organized and very knowledgeable about his home region Karakalpakstan. The reception by the host family of the small yurt camp was just overwhelming and the views at that end of the world simply stunning. Being able to speak the Lingua Franca Russian certainly helps to get even more first-hand information out of the local crowd.
Timur himself was very attentive and responsive before, during and after the trip to Uzbekistan’s East, checking in frequently if we need any further assistance. Before the trip to Nukus/Area Sea, Timur was even so kind to invite us for a traditional Plow lunch in Tashkent.
Thanks so much for fond memories taken home!
We made a wonderful Aral Sea Tour in Spring 2019 with the help of Timur, who organized a great program with a good driver and an amazing night in an authentic yourt with view on the Sea. The organization was really good, our driver was very competent and experienced. The ambient in the place where we slept was friendly and we received a hearty welcome by the people there. Timur also organized train tickest for us in advance, and everything went smoothly thanks to him. He also helped us to transfer quite spontaneously from one city to another (Nukus-Khiva) as we couldn’t find a appropriate driver to do this travel. Thank you Timur!
I just finished a week long tour of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand organized by Timur. I was really pleased how well everything was coordinated and I appreciated the context given by the guides – there is so much to see and it is hard to know exactly what you are looking at!
Particular thanks to my driver from Khiva to Bukhara who fed me fish en route and my guide in Bukhara who walked with me on a 45degree day (phew!)
Thank you Timur for making this happen,
Tim
Last march Timur made sure our 2 weeks of exploring Uzbekistan went as easy and smooth as possible. Great hotels, great drivers and guides and a relaxed and worry-free holiday with a custom itinerary. Excellent price/quality ratio. 10/10 would highly recommend.
I firstly contact Timur to book only the Uzbek train tickets but I ended up doing a complete tour with his travel agency. He is a very competent persons , very helpful beyond travel agency duties since he understands very well the “travelers” needs. His drivers are very good drivers :)
we really had a great time in Uzbekistan thanks also to Timur
ciao from milano
Silvia
Timur made of our one week long trip to Uzbekistan a perfect experience! He was always and promptly available, answering our endless mails and queries. Our driver was extremely helpful and the guides kind and knowledgeable. We truly recommend to visit the interesting and beautiful “Stans”, with the support of Timur.
Thank you Timur, we will be in touch again for trips in the nearby Stans: By the way, could you organise also a trip along the Pamir Highway?
Best wishes,
Beatrice Cito Filomarino
We traveled to Uzbekistan in the spring of 2019. There were certain things we wanted to do on certain days, sometimes we required a guide, sometimes just a driver. We put requests to several agencies and not only was Timur the first to reply, he also had the best prices.
We were delayed by two hours on our arrival and Timur was still waiting with a guide and driver to greet us personally. The guide spoke good English and the driver was calm… as were all of Timur’s drivers … and believe me, not everyone is calm when driving in Central Asia! The guides were always knowledgeable and engaging, keen to share the enthusiasm they felt for their home.
That enthusiasm infected us and I don’t think we’ve stopped talking about it since … Timur is an excellent first point of contact and I would thoroughly recommend contacting him when still in the ‘dreaming of going to Central Asia’ stage.