Bayan’s vice president and professor Munir Shaikh will be the faculty escort for the tour. He holds an M.A. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a specialization in the history of Islamic Iberia (Al-Andalus), and certificates from academic programs in Morocco, Egypt and Spain. He has lived for periods of time in Spain (and Morocco), and is conversant in Spanish. He has taught academic courses on Islamic Spain, Middle Eastern history, Islam, and world history. He has led two previous Islamic heritage tours in Uzbekistan, as well as tours in Bosnia, Malaysia and elsewhere.

Bayan’s tours are focused on providing a well-rounded experience featuring academic knowledge, historical site visits, cultural exposure, recreational activities, and free time. The itinerary includes visits to mosques and other sites of prayer. By participating in a tour, you are helping sustain and advance Bayan’s mission as a non-profit educational institution. Our group size tends to be in the range of 20-30 participants. This enables participants to get to know one another and develop bonds of friendship and camaraderie that can last a lifetime. By participating in a tour, you are helping sustain and advance Bayan’s mission as a non-profit educational institution.

We are accepting registrations until we reach capacity or need to close the registration period so as to confirm hotel room bookings, arrange in-country transportation, obtain entrance tickets for sites, and finalize other details. After the early-bird period ends, we will continue to accept reservations if space is available, at the normal rate. If you join a tour after initial arrangements have been finalized, you may be lodged in comparable hotels near the main group in some locations, if additional rooms cannot be booked at the group location. Alternative timings for entrance to certain monuments may also be necessary if tickets for the group timing are not available.

To be officially registered and receive further communication in preparation for the tour, you must register with a partially-refundable deposit of $1,000 per traveler. For this tour, the refund deadline is January 31, 2026. Prior to this date, a refund of your deposit LESS $250 per registration will be provided. After this date, your deposit payment and any additional payment you have made towards the total cost of the tour will not be refunded, but can be used as a credit on another Bayan tour within 12 months of the start date of this tour. There is a $100 fee per registration to transfer the credit to another tour within the indicated timeframe.

Bayan’s tours are open to participants who wish to join from anywhere in the world. However, the majority of participants tend to be from the United States. US passport holders older than 55 years old do not need to obtain a visa to enter Uzbekistan. For US nationals under the age of 55, an e-visa must be obtained, which you should do at least 2 weeks before travel (instructions will be provided). UK, Canadian and EU passport holders do not require a visa. All fully registered participants will be requested to provide passport details and travel itineraries so that we can reserve hotel rooms, flights and train tickets.

Our group will be transported from site to site in a tourist bus or series of vans, depending on circumstances. There will be one or more train journeys and an internal flight from Tashkent to the Khiva area. In different cities and historical sites, there will be a fair amount of walking on level ground, and in some places there are a few flights of steps. There are a couple of minaret type structures that participants can climb if they wish to do so, but these are completely optional. This also applies to buildings which might have an observation point on the upper levels. The guides will aim to take into account the differing abilities and health conditions of group members and regulate the pace and intensity of the tour accordingly. However, participants should expect to walk roughly 8,000-12,000 steps each day.

Uzbek food has a unique personality, yet bears influences from Turkish, Chinese and Afghan cuisines, among others. You can expect to try the following zabiha/halal items during the journey: Plov (rice pilaf or pulao with meat and vegetables), Shashlik (shish kabob), Lagman (hand-pulled noodles), Shurpa (lamb soup, or shurbah), Manti and other dumplings that are steamed or fried and filled with meat, Samsa (flaky pastry with meat filling), Dolma (stuffed peppers, cabbage leaves or grape leaves), Chalop (cold yogurt soup with dill, parsley and cucumbers), home-made bread, tea, dried fruits (especially apricots), and halva, baklava and similar desserts.

Yes, all participants who have completed their full payment will receive a detailed information packet that includes descriptions of the cities and sites to be visited, the daily schedule, currency exchange, local prayer times, electrical adapters, weather, what to pack, and more.

We encourage participants to be fully vaccinated with at least one booster shot for all who are eligible to receive these shots. We will update participants regarding PCR or antigen testing requirements of Uzbekistan, if applicable. At the time of our travel, it may be that fewer requirements will be in place. Given the low incidence of Covid in Uzbekistan, we do not expect to mandate masking during the tour, but we encourage masking whenever possible and according to each individual’s comfort level. For example, when shopping in crowded areas, it would be best to wear a mask. General sanitary practices should be maintained at all times, such as washing hands with soap, using sanitizing gels and wipes, and maintaining a reasonable distance between individuals.