Why this ride
531 km from Farkhor to Farkhor, about 9 h 09 of riding. The stops in between: Shahristoni Zoli Zar, Kalai Hulbuk, Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal and Shahristoni Hulbuk.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Shahrtepa and Shahristoni Hulbuk
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 531 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 09
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Shahrtepa
Shahrtepa lies in the lowlands of southern Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, within sight of the Panj river and the Afghan hills beyond. The word tepa means a mound, and it is the right word: a mound that has built up over centuries as one settlement was layered over another, in the Bactrian country that Alexander crossed and that later fed the Kushan empire. A Buddhist temple site is linked with this area, a reminder that this was once a place where monks, merchants and caravans met on the way between India, Central Asia and China.
Read the complete Shahrtepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahrtepa is where the day begins. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
2. Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Down in the far south of Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, the land flattens into the wide floodplain of the Panj, the river that forms the border with Afghanistan. The site named Shahristoni Zoli Zar lies in this country, some eighteen kilometres from Farkhor, and it is one of many ancient settlement mounds scattered across the region. Southern Tajikistan was part of ancient Bactria, later the heartland of the Kushan empire, and the fields here have yielded Buddhist and early Islamic remains. A shahriston, in the old local sense, was the inner walled town, and the name suggests that this mound once held a proper urban core.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahristoni Zoli Zar comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kalai Hulbuk.
3. Kalai Hulbuk
Hulbuk was the capital of a small principality of the Samanid era in what is now southern Tajikistan, and it is one of the most evocative ruins in the Khatlon region. Its location is on the plains south of Vose, near the Kyzylsu, within sight of the Afghan border country. Archaeologists dug out a palace complex of mud-brick and fired brick from the ninth to eleventh centuries, with remarkable carved terracotta panels and a ceramic tradition that left glazed bowls with sharp, graceful script. Some of this is displayed in a small museum on site, and part of the citadel has been reconstructed so you can see how the high rooms were arranged.
Read the complete Kalai Hulbuk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 105 km into the recorded legs you reach Kalai Hulbuk. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
4. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Khuttal was a medieval kingdom in the south of what is now Tajikistan, centred on the fertile valleys between the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, and it flourished as a crossroads of trade and culture between Central Asia, Iran and India. The region's heritage includes the ruins of palaces, towns and religious buildings, such as the citadel of Hulbuk, near Vose', a royal residence from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, with richly decorated walls, and the town of Kulob, with the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Several of these sites have been nominated together for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, about halfway. Next is Shahristoni Hulbuk.
5. Shahristoni Hulbuk
Shahristoni is an old word for the inner town of a medieval city, and Hulbuk was a large one. In the ninth to eleventh centuries, when the Samanid dynasty ruled much of Central Asia from Bukhara, Hulbuk was the capital of Khuttal, a rich district in the south-east of what is now Tajikistan, and its rulers built a palace complex with courtyards, halls and fortified walls. Excavators have found fine carved alabaster panels, painted ceramics, glazed bowls and bits of mosaic, which show how sophisticated the court was, a Persian-speaking world that produced scholars, poets and astronomers. The city was destroyed in the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century and never rebuilt.
Read the complete Shahristoni Hulbuk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahristoni Hulbuk sits at 266 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
6. back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal comes up about 347 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kalai Hulbuk.
7. back through Kalai Hulbuk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalai Hulbuk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 426 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kalai Hulbuk. Next is back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
8. back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar, late in the day. Next is Shahrtepa.
9. Shahrtepa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahrtepa 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 531 km.
Leg by leg
Shahrtepa to Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Shahrtepa → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Kalai Hulbuk
Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Kalai Hulbuk is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kalai Hulbuk to Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Kalai Hulbuk → Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahristoni Hulbuk
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahristoni Hulbuk is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Hulbuk to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Shahristoni Hulbuk → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to back through Kalai Hulbuk
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → back through Kalai Hulbuk is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kalai Hulbuk to back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
back through Kalai Hulbuk → back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Shahrtepa
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Shahrtepa is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Kalai Hulbuk and Shahrtepa · 89 km
- Shahristoni Hulbuk and Shahrtepa · 90 km