Golden Eagle Luxury Trains: Exploring the traditional Silk Road throughout Central Asia in type

I’m sitting on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan when three males on horseback thunder previous with golden eagles flapping atop their raised proper arms. The scene is so placing, it might have been painted on silk. Soon after, a furry missile seems on the sand.

“We play football by riding a horse,” says our feminine Kyrgyz information, Aisuluu. “But instead of a ball, we are using a dead goat without a head.”

I’m amongst a small group of transfixed spectators to this unique personal taster of the standard nomad video games of the Kyrgyz folks, generally often called the Olympic Games of Central Asia.

The official World Nomad Games competition is held each two years on the shores of the eighth-deepest lake on the earth. Kokburu, or horseback polo, is likely one of the fundamental sports activities, alongside horseback archery, horseback wrestling and falconry. It’s a remarkably skilful demonstration that includes each women and men, and culminates in a fiery end for one courageous athlete, his fireproof go well with set alight as he canters out of sight.

Horses are the primary mode of transport in Kyrgyzstan, however I’ve arrived at this rising vacation spot in appreciable consolation. I’m on a 14-day Republics of the Silk Road rail itinerary to Tashkent, which departs from Almaty in Kazakhstan and takes in 4 of the 5 Stans. The journey, with Golden Eagle Luxury Trains, is alongside the previous commerce routes of the traditional Silk Road, with visits in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Sadly, Turkmenistan, which is notoriously remoted, has declined visas for Golden Eagle prepare passengers since 2024.

Since the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the luxurious operator has pivoted with new routes, and in September 2026 will relaunch its 22-day The Grand Silk Road itinerary from Beijing to Tashkent on board a luxurious new sleeper prepare, the Golden Eagle Silk Road Express.

Our journey is absolutely escorted, with skilled Russian-Siberian tour chief Tatiana on the helm, alongside Russian guides Anna and Yana. Each has been working with the corporate for practically 20 years.

Founded by former British wine service provider Tim Littler in 1989 (and lately offered to Italy’s luxurious Arsenale Group, which owns La Dolce Vita Orient Express), the corporate pioneered high-end prepare journey in Crimea, the Caucasus, and Russia by way of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Knowledgeable native guides and comfy buses accompany us at every vacation spot. On-board knowledgeable, British journalist Liam Halligan, who lived and labored in Moscow for a few years, gives a sequence of fascinating talks about geopolitics within the area.

Luxury prepare journey is experiencing a resurgence, with a lot of operators launching new trains and itineraries prior to now few years. And whereas lots of our fellow passengers are a lot older than me, Littler says there’s been a major shift in demographic.

“When we started out, our average age was about 66. We never had anybody below 40, but now we have travellers in their 20s,” he says. “Slow travel is in vogue and somehow, there seems to be an awful lot more money around for experiential travel,” says Littler.

This is likely one of the world’s extra luxurious prepare journeys, and it comes with loads of bells and whistles. A resident pianist performs each night within the bar automotive, and desk settings sparkle with crystal glassware and porcelain tableware.

Meals strike a steadiness between fussy and rustic: positive eating aboard the prepare and genuine lunches at native eating places at most of our stops. One night time we’re handled to Russian caviar and vodka tastings, the subsequent we’re rugging up for a barbecue on the prepare platform.

I’m in a Gold Class cabin with an en-suite. While compact, it’s snug, though as soon as the bunk beds are out, navigating the area together with your travelling companion can really feel like a clumsy first dance.

A subject of dialog among the many 50 passengers is the temperamental showers, which wrestle to get scorching all through the journey. Our Russian attendants Christina and Nikita are pure sunshine, providing tea and occasional each morning, greeting us with a blue carpet (to match the prepare’s livery) after every cease, and eagerly bridging language obstacles by way of the usage of a smartphone.

A tv in our cabin has an archive of documentaries in regards to the historical Silk Road and the broader area, which gives further context to the complicated historical past of this a part of the world, together with the conquerors that invaded the area, and the roughly 70-year interval underneath Soviet management.

It feels virtually surreal to be travelling alongside this main buying and selling route that started about 2150 years in the past and ran from China’s historical capital of Xi’an to the souks of Istanbul and retailers of Venice. What began out with the commerce of silk finally led to the change of concepts, know-how and humanities that revolutionised Europe.

In Uzbekistan, which we enter a number of instances, we tour the souks of Bukhara and the traditional fortified metropolis of Khiva, which served as a major caravan cease through the time of the Silk Road, and is heaving with vacationers. Many of the cities are resplendent with blue and turquoise Persian structure and tile work relationship again to the 14th-century rule of Islamic conqueror Amir Temur.

It will be straightforward to develop weary of the various mosques, mausoleums and minarets. But once in a while, the itinerary throws a curveball to reignite our consideration. After rolling previous desolate rural villages in Tajikistan, the poorest nation in Central Asia, we arrive within the capital Dushanbe and tour the ostentatious Kohi Navruz Palace, whose sole objective is to chest-thump at visiting heads of state: floral parquetry, a six-tonne Swarovski chandelier and a corridor adorned fully with 15,000 kilograms of valuable stones together with lapis lazuli.

Less polarising is the “desert of forbidden art” within the distant Uzbek autonomous area of Karakalpakstan. The world-class Nukus Museum was established by Ukrainian-born painter and archaeologist Igor Savitsky, who smuggled greater than 40,000 works deemed anti-Soviet right here between the Twenties and Sixties. It homes the most important assortment of Russian and Central Asian artwork outdoors of St Petersburg, and is likely one of the world’s most underrated cultural treasures.

By the time the prepare reaches our vacation spot in Tashkent, we’ve travelled 6238 kilometres, and have loaded up on handwoven silk, handmade ceramics and Uzbek robes. For practically two weeks, we’ve rattled round on this luxury caravan, exploring one of many world’s most intrepid areas in absolute luxurious. I try of our resort on wheels, however mentally I’m nonetheless sipping champagne within the bar automotive.

THE DETAILS

TRAIN
Golden Eagle Luxury Trains presents its 14-day Republics of the Silk Road itinerary by the 5 Stans in April and September, from $US26,900 ($37,796) an individual twin share for a Silver Class cabin. See goldeneagleluxurytrains.com

The author travelled as a visitor of Golden Eagle Luxury Trains.