Tien Shan

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.

Ruth Clamp 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!

Jonathan Coles The Silk Road

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.

Lucie P The Silk Road