One Day Tour to Seven Lakes and Panjakent from Samarkand

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Explore Tajikistan’s Seven Lakes, Panjakent, and Ancient Sarazm in a day. Capture stunning photos, visit ancient ruins, and experience vibrant local culture.

Duration: 9 hours

Cancellation: 1 day learn more

Highlights

Jartepa chegara bojxona posti - Meet at the Jartepa border around 8-9am (depending on your arrival time). Then, we drive to our first destination, the Ancient Sarazm ruins.
Proto-urban site of Sarazm - Sarazm: Just a short distance from the border crossing are the UNESCO-listed ruins of Sarazm. Over 5,500 years old, these ruins are the remnants of the first agricultural society in Central Asia. A notably tall human skeleton, known as the “Princess of Sarazm,” was discovered here along with some of her ornaments. Archaeologists also unearthed artifacts indicating ancient trade routes extending to modern-day Iran and Pakistan. This site is also one of the oldest places associated with Zoroastrian civilization and religion.
Panjakent Bazaar - Later, we drive to Panjakent city for a brief sightseeing tour.
Panjakent Bazaar - Panjakent Bazaar: This market features a beautiful central building surrounded by brick archways. It’s a great place to stock up on trekking snacks like nuts and dried fruits or to experience Tajik hospitality for the first time.
Olim Dodkho Mosque - After visiting the bazaar, we will take a short walk to see the Central Mosque and Madrasah of Olim Dodkhoh, located just steps away from the bazaar.
Seven Lakes - After sightseeing in Panjakent, we head towards the Fann mountains to visit the lakes.
Seven Lakes - Seven Lakes (Haftkul): 7 teary lakes
Seven small lakes make up the “Seven Lakes” in northwest Tajikistan. Legend says they are the tears of the daughters of a missing man. Science suggests they were formed after earthquakes altered the course of the Shing River. Regardless of the story you prefer, the Haft Kul road is one of Tajikistan’s most accessible treks, offering a perfect introduction to the country’s natural beauty. Besides the azure lakes, there are many villages to explore, with friendly locals often inviting travelers for tea.

We will visit six of the lakes by car: 1. Mijgon, 2. Soya, 3. Hushyor, 4. Nophin lakes (2139m.a.l), Khurdak, and 6. Marguzor.

Then, we will take a leisurely walk to the final lake of Haft Kul: Hazor Chashma, also known as the thousand springs. The slope is gentle, and the altitude is low (the lake is around 2,400 m/7870 ft). It’s a 15-20 minute walk that can sometimes be done by car if the road conditions are good. You can choose to drive or walk.

These are 7 lakes with 7 different names, altitudes, shapes, and colors.

Jartepa chegara bojxona posti - After visiting the lakes, we drive back to the border for departure. End of tour!

What's Included

Private transportation
Bottled water
Lunch in a traditional house or lunch - picnic at the lakes
All fees and/or taxes

What's Not Included

Alcoholic Beverages
All other expenses like buying souvenirs or snacks, visa if required, Tips/gratuities
Transfer from your hotel to the border/meeting point and back is organizeable for additional 50$.

Additional Information

This one-day tour from Samarkand will acquaint you with one of the most beautiful places in Tajikistan, the Seven Lakes of legendary Fann Mountains. This is a maximized (you will visit maximum number of places in just one day still with no rush) and perfect tour that includes visiting all the 7 lakes and a sidetour of Panjakent and Ancient Sarazm. You will stop in each lakes and many spots to take pictures. You will enjoy wilde nature everywhere during the whole tour, high mountains peaks reaching 4000m above sea level, rivers, waterfalls, villages, old ruins, city, traditional bazaar, religious site and many other places of interests, all in a just day-tour. In Panjakent and around there will be visits to the most ancient place of Central Asia Sarazm Settlement(5500 years old), a short Panjakent city tour taht includes a religious Madrasah and Mosque, Central bazaar, and plenty of villages to wonder along the lakes. So let’s go to discover!

Alcoholic Beverages - allowed only to 18 years old and above.

Location

Jartepa chegara bojxona posti

After you reach Tajikistan border, you will need to walk through a building about 10-15 minutes by foot. Here they check your passports and stamp on it. Our team will be waiting for you right after the building ends, at Tajikistan side. They will have a meeting sign written your name on it

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

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(5 Ratings)

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Ketchuprequired

May 26, 2024

Excellent and well itganized day trip to Seven Lakes from Samarkand - We did the one day tour to the seven lakes with Said and his Marco Polo tour company. Said was very organized and helpful and responded immediately through WhatsApp to make arrangements. He does not lead the tour - there is a driver and a young guide who spoke decent English and was very nice. Said arranged a taxi to the border. It probably would have been cheaper to arrange this ourselves but this was easy. It cost $30 USD total for both directions together. The border crossing is done on foot and is easy enough. There are just quite a few checkpoints to go through but it was not busy when we were there. The whole process including walking time took maybe 25 minutes. After the border, they picked us up and we proceeded about 15 minutes into Panjakent where we went to the market. The guide showed us around. This was a fantastic market. The locals were very friendly too and wanted to show us their goods. While there, the river bought plov, oranges and bread for our lunch. From there we continued on to the seven lakes area. We stopped for lunch after the first lake. The lakes are very pretty and you can see village life along the way. The one lane, cliff side road was an experience itself!! The driver is very good and safe. We hiked to the seventh lake. We were told it would be two hours total but we did it on one hour including stopping at the top. It’s 3 km one way I think, and not too hard. I am always worried about bathrooms! Ha! We stopped after the market and then was offered again in a village just before heading up to the lakes. Otherwise, it’s just bushes or rocks. Bring your own toilet paper and a bag to carry it out. The lakes are different shades of turquoise and the mountain peaks are snow covered in May. Just a note - the lakes are at low volume in mid-May and I am sure they would be spectacular by June or July. The temperature is great in May. The road is very bumpy and dusty - just be warned if you have a bad back, but we didn’t mind. It is windy, but you are going slow so I was not carsick. Note: We DID NOT book this through viator - it is much, much less expensive booking it with Marco Polo or through Indy Guide (which is how I found it). All in all, a worthwhile and easy day trip from Samarkand. It’s a nice break from all the buildings and tiles too. We are very glad we did it.