Overland The Silk Road

The adventure

For centuries, caravans carried silk, spices, paper and ideas across Central Asia, and following their route overland still feels like travelling back in time. In China's far west, Kashgar's Sunday livestock market is a whirl of sheep, haggling and dust. Then come high mountain passes into Kyrgyzstan, where you sleep in yurts beside alpine lakes and share bowls of fermented mare's milk with nomadic herders.

Uzbekistan is the showpiece. In Samarkand, the turquoise domes and tiled madrasas of the Registan glow at dusk; in Bukhara, you wander between mosques and old trading domes; in Khiva, an entire walled city of minarets turns gold at sunset. Further west, Turkmenistan adds the surreal white-marble capital of Ashgabat and the flaming Darvaza gas crater in the Karakum Desert. Every border brings a new language, a new currency and another plate of plov.

Why it’s epic

• The Registan in Samarkand, three tiled madrasas around one of the great squares of the Islamic world.
• The walled inner city of Khiva, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Sleeping in yurts beside Song-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, a lake more than 3,000 metres up.
• The Darvaza gas crater, which has been burning in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert since the 1970s or earlier.
• Kashgar's Sunday livestock market in China's far west.

What it is

The Silk Road was a network of trading routes linking China with the Middle East and Europe.

How to do it

Travel overland through China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by train, shared taxi or an overland tour.

Top tip

Check visa rules, especially for Turkmenistan.

Need to know

• UK passport holders can currently visit Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan visa-free for short stays, but check before you go.
• Turkmenistan requires a visa, usually a tour-based visa with a letter of invitation or a short transit visa, so start early.
• Summers are scorching in the deserts, so spring and autumn are the most comfortable times to travel.

Make it happen

• Tours and ticketsGetYourGuide

Why it’s on my list

It's the last big overland trip I really want to do. I've done South America, West Africa and East Africa in big yellow trucks, and the Silk Road is the one that's left. The plan is Madventure's Istanbul to Beijing trip: 104 days, 11 countries, from the Bosphorus to the Forbidden City. No dates yet, but it's right at the top of my most-want-to-do list.

The route, and what I'll see along the way

• Turkey: Istanbul and the Grand Bazaar, the Gallipoli battlefields, Troy, Ephesus, the travertines of Pamukkale, the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia (with a hot-air balloon ride if the weather plays ball) and Sumela Monastery on its cliff.
• Georgia: Kutaisi, the Vardzia cave city, Tbilisi and the mountains around Kazbegi.
• Armenia: Yerevan, Khor Virap with Mount Ararat behind it, Lake Sevan and the Debed Gorge.
• Azerbaijan: the old caravanserai town of Sheki, Baku's old town, the Gobustan rock carvings and the Caspian mud volcanoes.
• Iran: Tehran's Grand Bazaar, the gardens of Kashan, Isfahan's Imam Square and bridges, Persepolis, Shiraz and the desert city of Yazd.
• Turkmenistan: the white-marble capital Ashgabat, the Karakum Desert and a night by the Darvaza gas crater, the Door to Hell.
• Uzbekistan: the ship graveyard at Moynaq on the dried-up Aral Sea, the walled city of Khiva, Bukhara and the Registan in Samarkand.
• Tajikistan: Iskanderkul lake, Dushanbe and the Pamir Highway, one of the great road trips on the planet.
• Kyrgyzstan: Osh, a night in a yurt by Song-Kol lake, and Bishkek.
• Kazakhstan: the Tamgaly petroglyphs, Almaty, Charyn Canyon and Altyn-Emel National Park.
• China: Urumqi and Heavenly Lake, the Jiaohe ruins at Turpan, the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang, the Great Wall at Jiayuguan, the rainbow mountains of Zhangye, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, Pingyao, the Hanging Monastery, and finally Beijing and the Forbidden City.