An epic 16‑week Silk Road overland from Istanbul to Beijing, combining camping and simple stays with ancient cities, rugged deserts, towering mountains, and high‑altitude trains across Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Tibet, and China.
  • Explore Cappadocia's cave homes and ancient underground cities.
  • Visit the mud volcanoes of Qobustan, Azerbaijan.
  • Witness the blazing Darvaza Gas Crater in the Kara-Kum Desert.
  • Explore Bukhara and Samarkand’s majestic medressas, mausoleums and mosques.
  • Traverse Tajikistan’s Pamir Highway amid ever-changing mountain landscapes.
  • Stay in a traditional yurt beside Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Song Kol.
  • Stand at Tibet’s Mount Everest Base Camp near Rongbuk Monastery.
  • Walk the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu.
Accommodation is approximately 45% camping and 55% simple hotels, hostels, or homestays. Expect traditional yurt stays at Lake Song Kol and elsewhere in Kyrgyzstan, occasional family homestays subject to availability, very basic accommodation at Rongbuk Monastery, and a comfortable, friendly hostel stay in Bishkek.