Lonely Planet Central Asia

by Bradley Mayhew

Discover Central Asia

Lose yourself among the blue domes and mosaics of the Registan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Play Marco Polo, exploring Silk Road forts while bathed in the light of the snowcapped Hindu Kush in the Wakhan Valley, Tajikistan.
Watch a Kyrgyz eagle hunter in action and taste the delights of fermented mare's milk in Kyrgyzstan.
Follow in the footsteps of British spies, Chinese pilgrims and Russian explorers and embark on your own Great Game.

In This Guide:

Five authors, five 'stans, 27 visa stamps (78 visa checks), 182 pots of green tea, one (short) detention by the KGB.
Everything you need to know about visas, travel permits and crossing Asia's remotest borders.
Trek into remote alpine valleys, follow herders on horseback or ride camels with our new Activities chapter.
Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler suggestions.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Ebooks

508 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Theut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buona guida per pianificare la scoperta di uno dei posti più belli del mondo.
Bello da leggere anche senza un viaggio come "meta finale" (purtroppo, ma si tratta solo di un "a presto!").

UPDATE: 3* perché al contrario di altre guide incentrate sull'Uzbekistan, la Lonely Planet copre l'intera Asia Centrale e naturalmente le informazioni sono più "superficiali".

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

By the time I was reading this travel guide some parts of it had been outdated to a large extent. There's a newer edition of 2018 and may be another one will appear soon. So may be it's worth waiting for the latest one if you really want to use it as a source for planning your trip. In my case, I enjoyed the brief historical and cultural review, which is written in an inspiring language. I visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with reference to this guide and I wasn't disappointed. I found that travelling there is much easier and more predictable now, than it was by 2014 (the year of publication), but predictably more expensive.

[Alec Biron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, updated guide covering all Central Asian countries. This book came in handy when picking hikes, national parks, restaurants, coffee shops and bars throughout Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The guide has a 2025 version which is up-to-date and includes language and cultural tips, even recommended readings, music, movies, and travel preparedness plans ahead of your excursion. We found the information to be accurate and reliable while preparing for a long journey to a part of the world that we had previously never explored.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

JB is currently tripping on some Taklamakan Desert/Silk Road action, so I read this. That part of the world sounds extremely cool and forbidding--not sure how much I want to hang there, though.

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très complet. Il manque à mon sens quelques photographies pour illustrer les descriptions.