All activities / Trekking / Hiking / Nuratau
Trekking / Hiking in Nuratau
A quiet mountain range between the Kyzylkum desert and the Silk Road cities, laced with shepherds' paths and orchard villages, and home to Uzbekistan's leading community-based trekking network of family homestays around Sentob, Hayat, Asraf and Uhum.
Why here
The Nuratau Mountains rise between the Kyzylkum desert and the road east, a quiet range of dry ridges and hidden green valleys that offers the best village trekking in Uzbekistan. This is walking at human scale rather than high-altitude effort: shepherds' paths link the mountain villages of Sentob, Hayat, Asraf and Uhum, past walnut and apricot orchards, spring-fed streams and the occasional petroglyph, with the desert haze always on the horizon. The draw is the community-based tourism network built here, where you sleep in family homestays, eat what the household cooks and walk from village to village with local guides, so the trip supports the people whose land it crosses. A 72-kilometre trail strings the villages together, and shorter loops suit anyone who wants a day or two on foot between the Silk Road cities.
Best months
The trekking season runs spring through autumn, roughly April to June and September to October, with spring bringing wildflowers and blossom and autumn clear, stable air. Summer is hot and dry at these low mountain elevations, and winter brings cold and snow on the higher ridges. Days are moderate rather than strenuous, but the paths are rough and shade is scarce, so sun cover and water matter. Homestays are simple, with shared rooms and floor bedding in the village houses.
Getting there & around
The trailhead villages lie off the main Samarkand to Bukhara road, reached by car from Samarkand or from the town of Nurata in around two to three hours, with the last stretch on rough track. Most visitors arrive on an arranged trip, since the homestays, guides and village-to-village logistics are coordinated through the community network rather than booked on the spot. Many combine the walk with a night at an Aydarkul desert yurt camp nearby.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate
Schools & guides (2)
Nurata Tours
OutfitterNurata Tours is a family operation run by Ruslan from a guesthouse on Okhunboboyev Street in Nurata, the town at the foot of the Nuratau range. With seven years in the local tourism trade, he guides village-to-village hikes through the Nuratau mountains with homestays in the surrounding settlements. Groups are small and routes set to the walker's pace, from a half-day ridge walk to multi-day traverses, arranged and booked directly with the guesthouse rather than through an agency.
Nuratau Travel
OutfitterNuratau Travel, trading as Responsible Travel LLC, is based in the village of Bog'don and manages the community-based tourism network of the Nuratau Mountains. It links homestays and local guides in Sentob, Hayat, Asraf and Uhum, arranging multi-day treks between them with meals and beds provided by the host families. The company won the international TO DO Award at ITB Berlin, and its trips run from a day walk to a week, booked directly so money stays in the villages.