Why this ride
286 km from Bukhara to Bukhara, about 5 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Vobkent Minaret, Historic Centre of Bukhara, Chasma-i Ayub Khazira and Vardanze Settlement. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chor Bakh Necropolis and Vardanze Settlement
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 286 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 29
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Uzbekistan Silk Road Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 38 km this is Uzbekistan Silk Road Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 38 km
- Named road
- Uzbekistan Silk Road Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Chor Bakh Necropolis
A short ride west of Bukhara, in the village of Sumitan, a complex of courtyards, mosques and family tombs sits behind high walls, with blue-tiled portals rising above the surrounding houses. This is Chor Bakr, a necropolis built around the grave of Abu Bakr Said, a descendant of the Prophet who died in the tenth century. In the sixteenth century, the Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara built a memorial complex here, with a khanaqah, a mosque and a madrasa, and the cemetery became a resting place for the powerful Juybari sheikhs, a dynasty of religious leaders with great influence over the khanate. The name means "four brothers", referring to the four Abu Bakrs said to be buried here.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chor Bakh Necropolis is where the day begins. Next is Vobkent Minaret.
2. Vobkent Minaret
Vobkent's minaret is a tall brick finger rising out of a small Uzbek town on the edge of the Bukhara oasis. It was built in the late twelfth century, in the same tradition as the more famous Kalyan minaret in Bukhara, which it predates in style by a few years and rivals in elegance. Standing nearly forty metres high, it is made entirely of fired brick laid in bands of geometric patterns, with a tapering shaft and a lantern top. Up close, the craftsmanship is startling: no two courses seem quite the same.
Read the complete Vobkent Minaret write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vobkent Minaret comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Bukhara.
3. Historic Centre of Bukhara
Bukhara is a city that feels like a lived-in museum. For more than two thousand years it has been a trading town on the routes across Central Asia, and in the ninth and tenth centuries, under the Samanid dynasty, it was one of the great centres of Islamic learning, home to scholars such as Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna. Genghis Khan sacked it in 1220, but the Kalyan Minaret, built in 1127, survived, and legend says even the conqueror was impressed. Today the old city is a remarkable ensemble of mosques, madrasas, caravanserais and domed bazaars, and it entered the World Heritage list in 1993.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Bukhara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Bukhara. Next is Chasma-i Ayub Khazira.
4. Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
North of Bukhara, the green irrigated oasis of the Zarafshan river spreads out in a patchwork of cotton fields, orchards, mulberry trees and villages, and the point named Chasma-i Ayub Khazira lies in this landscape, near the village of Khazara, between Vobkent and Gijduvon. Chashma-i Ayub, the spring of Job, is a name given to several holy springs in Central Asia, linked to the legend that the prophet Job struck the ground with his staff and water gushed forth in a time of drought. The most famous is in Bukhara itself, a mausoleum over a spring, and this site near Khazara may be another shrine of the same tradition, listed as part of the Silk Roads corridor of the Zarafshan valley.
Read the complete Chasma-i Ayub Khazira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira, about halfway. Next is Vardanze Settlement.
5. Vardanze Settlement
North of Bukhara the irrigated land eventually runs into the sand, and on that edge lies Vardanze, the ruins of an ancient city that was once the capital of a local principality in the Bukhara oasis. Its mound of collapsed mud-brick walls and citadel rises above the fields near Shofirkon, and archaeologists have traced its history back more than two thousand years. It flourished as a trading post on the Silk Road and later declined, partly because the desert advanced and the water supply failed, and its ruins are part of the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor listed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Vardanze Settlement write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vardanze Settlement sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira.
6. back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chasma-i Ayub Khazira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira comes up about 181 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Historic Centre of Bukhara.
7. back through Historic Centre of Bukhara
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Bukhara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 217 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Historic Centre of Bukhara. Next is back through Vobkent Minaret.
8. back through Vobkent Minaret
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vobkent Minaret write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Vobkent Minaret, late in the day. Next is Chor Bakh Necropolis.
9. Chor Bakh Necropolis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 286 km.
Leg by leg
Chor Bakh Necropolis to Vobkent Minaret
Chor Bakh Necropolis → Vobkent Minaret is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vobkent Minaret to Historic Centre of Bukhara
Vobkent Minaret → Historic Centre of Bukhara is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Bukhara to Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
Historic Centre of Bukhara → Chasma-i Ayub Khazira is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira to Vardanze Settlement
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira → Vardanze Settlement is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vardanze Settlement to back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
Vardanze Settlement → back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira to back through Historic Centre of Bukhara
back through Chasma-i Ayub Khazira → back through Historic Centre of Bukhara is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Bukhara to back through Vobkent Minaret
back through Historic Centre of Bukhara → back through Vobkent Minaret is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vobkent Minaret to Chor Bakh Necropolis
back through Vobkent Minaret → Chor Bakh Necropolis is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.