The Grand Silk Road: Tashkent to Beijing

You are met at Tashkent airport and taken to a central five-star hotel. In the evening a champagne reception and welcome dinner introduce you to your fellow travellers.

Explore Uzbekistan's capital, beginning in the Old Town, where you are privileged to see the world's oldest Koran. Visits to the Railway Museum and Museum of Applied Arts follow. In the afternoon you board the Golden Eagle for a welcome dinner on board.

Visit the Palace of Khudayar Khan and the Jami Mosque in Kokand, then travel by coach to Rishtan to watch a master ceramicist at work. In Margilan a family of silk makers shows every stage of the craft, from silkworms to ikat woven on traditional looms.

Begin at the emir's Palace of the Moon and Stars outside the city, then explore the Ark fortress, Poi-Kalyan Square and the Kalyan Mosque. Wander the Trading Domes and Lyabi-Hauz Square, and, weather permitting, enjoy a barbecue on the station platform before the train departs.

In the desert city of Nukus, visit the Savitsky State Museum, the 'Louvre in the Sands', with its remarkable collection of avant-garde art and Karakalpak crafts.

Travel to Khiva, a UNESCO-listed Silk Road city founded about 2,500 years ago. Within its ancient walls you discover mosques, madrassas, bazaars and minarets.

In Tajikistan's capital visit the Museum of National Antiquities and the opulent Kohi Navruz Palace with a local expert guide. The afternoon continues to the Ismail Samani monument, Independence Square and Mekhrgon Bazaar.

Visit Shahrisabz, believed to be Amir Timur's birthplace, to see his statue and the remains of his Ak-Saray Palace, once covered in colourful mosaic and Qur'anic calligraphy.

Explore Registan Square, the Bibi Khanum Mosque and the Ulugh Beg observatory. As night falls you return to the illuminated Registan for a light show from front-row seats.

Spend the morning at the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis and the Afrasiab museum with its ancient palace frescoes. You return to the train for lunch and travel on through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan towards Kyrgyzstan.

An afternoon tour of Bishkek, once a caravan rest stop, visits Ala-Too Square and the city's parks with their Soviet-era statues and the Memorial to the Red Guards.

Spend an extended day at Lake Issyk-Kul, framed by snow-capped peaks. A privately arranged festival celebrates nomadic culture with horseback wrestling, hunting with golden eagles, the game of ordo, music and crafts, with an optional visit to the open-air petroglyph museum before dinner on board.

A morning tour of Almaty visits Panfilov Park, with the wooden Zenkov Cathedral, and Independence Square. In the afternoon a private flight takes you to Kashgar for a night in a central five-star hotel.

Explore Kashgar, long a meeting point of cultures, beginning at the ornate Apak Khoja Tomb, the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Wander the Old Town and the historic Gaotai folk houses. In the afternoon you board the Golden Eagle Silk Road Express for a welcome dinner.

After a relaxed morning on board, arrive in Hotan and visit an Atlas silk and carpet workshop, where everything is handmade and coloured with natural plant dyes. In the evening you explore the ancient city of Yotkan by night, once the heart of a Buddhist kingdom.

A lecture on the history of the Silk Road is followed by lunch at the Hilton Qinghai-Golmud. In the afternoon choose between the surreal Chaerhan Salt Lake and a guided tour of the city.

Explore the Mogao Caves, the 'Caves of a Thousand Buddhas', where hundreds of grottoes hold Buddhist statues and murals, with a performance by local folk artists. After lunch a camel trek leads across the dunes to Crescent Lake, an oasis that has survived the desert sands for millennia.

A day to relax on board as the train crosses China. Watch the scenery from the Observation Car, with the largest train window in China, or unwind in the lounge with fine wines and cocktails.

Visit Xi'an's ancient city walls and the Great Mosque, one of the oldest and largest in China. The highlight is the Terracotta Warriors, thousands of life-sized figures guarding the tomb of China's first emperor. The evening brings Tang Dynasty cuisine, music and dance.

Arrive in the capital for a tour of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Summer Palace, or choose modern Beijing instead, with the Olympic Village, the Bird's Nest Stadium, the CCTV Tower and the National Museum. Afterwards you transfer to the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing for two nights.

In the morning walk a restored section of the Great Wall at Badaling, then enjoy a free afternoon in the city. In the evening the group dines at a celebrated Peking Duck restaurant, where the duck is carved at the table.

On the final morning you are transferred to Beijing's international airport for your onward journey.