What‘s Included

Meeting and Pickup

What To Expect

Reviews

• Frustrating

  khalid a,

  Nov 26, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  First of all , communication was poor before we arrive to Uzbekistan. They hardly respond . After response they sente a text about how the tour is going to be and the flow of the day , that nothing of what they said happened. They showed up late 2 hours and the drivers excuse was he was notified late , we booked our tour two months in advance. Then the drove us the the kazakh-Uzbic borders, where we must walk through the passports check walking between two countries. After arriving to the other side , we were picked up by a driver who was driving I a crazy way . It was very unsafe experience for 1 and a half hours. They he went to a local neighborhood and looked for a tour guide in her house . The joined us in a super small car where we were 4 and she is the 5th !!! She was very nice girl but has no clear plan . We spent the day as it goes. Very disappointed Very frustrating And the city has nothing worth to visit .

• Tour guide never came

  Duane K,

  Aug 7, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  Tour operator, Ahmed Yugnakiy, never answered 2 emails, never responded to a message I sent through Viator, and the phone number Viator gave me for the tour operator was a non working number. Tour Operator never came to the pick up place. The tour description includes a place that has long been completely torn down.

• Nightmare of a travel day, but our tour guide was a gem!

  Gayathri M,

  Sep 26, 2024

  - Review from Viator

  3.00

  This is a hard tour for me to review. Firstly, the tour guide, Deen. I would give him a 10 star rating out of 5 stars. He is AMAZING! He was the best part of the tour. Deen is incredibly dedicated and became my angel by the end of the day. Shymkent is a great city to visit as well, while in Tashkent as there is quite a lot to explore. The mosque especially was grogeous. It was a well packed day and we got to see museums, learn about Kazakhstan's history, culture and much more. Then why do I give it a 3 star rating? I could have given 1 star as well as the day was a nightmare. The day was one of the worst days of my travel experience. After the tour of the city, I couldn't enter back into Uzbek due to visa issues and it ended up costing me a lot of money and immense stress... and more importantly a ruined birthday evening. After a lot of unproductive struggle, I re-entered Kazakhstan and drove 2 hours back to Shymkent, booked the only 2 seats on the only flight in 3 days, and got back on my way. I had to cancel my next day booking made through viator and got no money back on the tour due to 24hr cancellation policy. I couldn't get my unused hotel days refunded. I can go on. Gah... it was all a nightmare! Most expensive trip for nothing. I should have made myself more aware of the Uzbek needs and challenges and checked my paperwork properly. So no doubt there. But, given the seriousness and incredible strict rules, the tour company should do more in terms of prep. I have traveled inter-country on so many such tours. The tour companies do a pre-travel paperwork check. They typically give a list of documents we need, visas we need, and such. At the minimum, they atleast warn us... make sure you have the needed visa to re-enter the country. In this case, I booked through viator and had no communication with the tour company until the day prior. And until we were ready to get into the car, no one even asked us if we are carrying our passport, which we were. My recommendation to the your company is to call this out in the booking page. A simple reminder, or a checklist on the needs will help. If visa on arrival for such trips are not available and if we are traveling with a single entry visa, there is no way out. You can't enter the country. And this is a serious matter. And so it needs to be properly called out. That said, the silver lining, Deen, he never left my side and sat through my entire ordeal, doing the translation and giving me company until I was on my way back to Shymkent. Thank you!!! There were couple of other matters, which I wonder why I even bother saying given all the main drama. But it may help those who don't face my issues (hope no one does!!) 1. We booked a 7am tour as we wanted to come back for an evening. But last minute tour company issues got us leaving after 8am and a need to wait at the border waiting for another couple as they merged 2 tours due to their last minute issues. We lost a good 90 min. 2. The tour length mentioned in the booking is not accurate. I noticed that in both my tours in Uzbek. One tour said 7hrs and it ended up being 12. This tour too... it says 8 hours. But it will be an all-day/evening thing. So plan accordingly.