Testimonials

Firstly, I could not recommend a 5 Stans Tour more highly. My wife and I too are seasoned (old, both 74 at the time, 2024!) travellers and easily rank this as our best trip. Our itinerary included Tajikistan of course but that was marginal. It was only one day and it chalked up the 5 Stans bit but it was not that interesting. I strongly recommend you read Peter Francopan’s book “The Silk Roads - a New History of the World” before you travel. If you are thinking of going with East-West Travel, I strongly recommend them too.

Some more comments are:

They did a great job. They advertise “Best Available” for hotels and restaurants and they certainly deliver - but understand that even Best Available in some areas can be a bit ordinary. Just roll with the blows. Ashgabat, on the other hand, was amazing. The restaurants were all certainly Best Available but became a bit same-ish. Try to go off track occasionally.

If there is any way you can tweak the itinerary so you fly in to Ashgabat rather than drive - take it. The border crossing by car is terrible, and the 5 hour drive is on possibly the worst road I have ever been on. Might have now been fixed, I’m not sure.

We also pondered "group" vs "private" and decided that there would probably be like minds on this tour so opted for Group. However, we were lucky in that our “group” turned out to be just the 2 of us! If it is not too much extra, I’d strongly recommend the flexibility and attention you get with a private tour.

We started in early April. Very pleasant weather the whole time. Avoid summer.

Highlights? Excellent guides. History lesson like no other. Very insightful and positive Muslim experience. There is nothing daunting at all about this trip. You will be stunned at places like Tashkent. I expected camels and tents but it could have been Paris.

Lowlights? Only the road trip from the border to Ashgabat. Tajikistan marginal.

Hi Bobby. It’s me Becky I just wanted to thank you for everything you organized for my daughter and myself. We are about to end our journey here in Norway. It was all incredible. !! Very well organized and beautiful. Thanks again ! Becky Guttin Artist beckyguttin.com

The entire tour went very smoothly. All instructions and driving directions were clear and easy to follow. The car and hotels that were booked were all excellent and comfortable. Bobby was great with all the bookings and returned my emails with excellent timing. Overall it was a great experience and I would book it through Nordic Saga again in the future.