CENTRAL ASIA · THE HIMALAYA
Steppe, summit, and the old Silk Road.
Tour reviews from Almaty to Amritsar: the Tian Shan lakes, the Golden Temple, the Kashmir valley, Mughal Lahore and the high road through Ladakh.
Only on this road
Sights you cross a continent for.
Plenty of places have a lake, a temple, a mountain valley. These three are why travellers point a whole trip at this corner of the map.
Kazakhstan
The Tian Shan lakes
An hour from Almaty the Tian Shan rises straight off the steppe. Up in the gorges sit Kaindy, where a 1911 earthquake drowned a spruce forest and the bleached trunks still stand in glass-clear water, and the Kolsay lakes above it. East across the plateau the red walls of Charyn Canyon drop to the river. Most trips link all three in one long day or an overnight.
- 1 Kolsai, Kaindy Lakes and Charyn Canyon Small-Group Tour
- 2 Kolsai Kaindy Lakes with Charyn Canyons 2-day tour
- 3 Kolsai Kaindy Lakes with Charyn Canyons Day Tour (lunch included)
Indian Punjab
The Golden Temple
The holiest site in Sikhism is a gilded pavilion set in the middle of a sacred pool, open to anyone and never closed. Its kitchen serves a free meal to tens of thousands a day. Most Amritsar visits pair it with the Jallianwala Bagh memorial alongside it and the floodlit flag-lowering at the Wagah border to Pakistan at dusk.
- 1 Amritsar City Tour ( Including Wagah Border Ceremony)
- 2 Amritsar Excursion ( Private full day tour)
- 3 Wagha Border Tour (Private tour )
Kashmir
The valley and Dal Lake
Srinagar floats on Dal Lake: carved cedar houseboats, floating vegetable gardens and shikara paddle-boats under the Himalaya, with the Mughal emperors' terraced gardens climbing the shore. The city is the base for the wider valley, from the meadows of Gulmarg to the pine slopes of Pahalgam and the high road toward Ladakh.
- 1 6 Days Private Tour in Kashmir Valley
- 2 Private 5-Day Charming Kashmir Package Tour from Srinagar
- 3 5-Days Kashmir tour includes Accommodation and Private Transportation
Start here
The trip everyone takes first.
More travellers build a journey around this one than anything else in the region.
The classics
The region's most popular tours.
Charyn Canyon, the Golden Temple, the Kashmir valley and the Mughal old city. The standout from each corner of the route.
By country
Pick a country.
Kazakhstan for the mountains and the steppe. India for the Himalaya and the Golden Temple. Pakistan for the Mughal cities of the plains.
Pakistan
The Mughal heart of Lahore.
Lahore keeps the grandest of the Mughal cities: the red sandstone fort, the vast Badshahi Mosque, the Shalimar Gardens and a walled old city you eat your way through after dark. A full-day guided loop links the monuments, and the Wagah border ceremony is a short drive east.
- 1 Lahore Full Day Sightseeing Guided Tour
- 2 Lahore Full Day Sightseeing Tour
- 3 2 Days Private Guided Tour in Lahore
By place
The cities on the route.
Almaty for the Tian Shan lakes. Amritsar for the Golden Temple. Srinagar for the valley. Lahore for the Mughal old city. Leh for the high passes. Astana for the steppe capital.
Just added