Itinerary

1. Day-1: Ashgabat - Darvaza

   • Meet your tour guide upon arrival at Ashgabat airport and transfer to hotel accommodation.
   • Rest and grab breakfast at the hotel.
   • Drive to Darvaza, Gas crater and witness two more craters on the way; the first one is deep with no fire but a strong gaseous smell. The other, lying 18km towards South is visible from the west side of the main road.
   • Have dinner at Darvaza.

   Overnight in tents or yurts.

2. Day-2: Darvaza - Damla

   • Get on a 2-3 hours drive to Damla village, located in the midst of the arid sprawl of the vast Karakum desert; the tiny village is a little haven of traditional Turkmenistani life.
   • Enjoy the traditional style lunch and dinner, witness the Tazy hunting dogs show, sparrow hawks and listen to the traditional music on dutar.

   Overnight in tents.

3. Day-3: Damla - Ashgabat

   • Drive to see camel cattle and local shepherd after grabbing breakfast at Damla
   • Taste freshly cooked lunch by the shepherds.
   • Enjoy a drive to Ashgabat city with your tour guide and rest at the hotel.

   Overnight at the hotel.

4. Day-4: Nokhur - Yangykala

   • An early morning drive to Nokhur, a village in a slight depression valley in the mountains of the Kopet Dag Range. The streets in the middle of the town are so narrow that they can only fit a car between each side's high stone retaining walls. Nokhur is the largest village with just a thousand or maybe two thousand people.
   • Have lunch at the guest house.
   • Continue your way to Yangykala. The name is translated from Turkmen as “fiery fortresses”. Indeed, the sheer cliffs in different colours, fancily carved by winds and rains, are very similar to the stone castles. The most beautiful canyons are during sunset when everything is painted in a red-hot colour and have dinner.

   Overnight at tents.

5. Day-5: Gozli Ata – Kow Ata

   • After breakfast at Yangykala,  drive to Gozli Ata, where a respected Sufi lived in the early part of the 14th century. His mausoleum is a brick building with twin white domes, standing in an old graveyard containing many nicely carved stone tombs.
   • Continue to Kow-Ata, an underground Lake. The Turkmen name "Kow-Ata" means Father of Caves. The bottom of the cave is covered with lumps of dissolved limestone, and its warm and gushing water is clear, emerald-coloured.
   • Drive to Ashgabat and stop for dinner at a local restaurant.

   Overnight hotel accommodation.

6. Day-6: Ashgabat - Dark Gorge

   • Drive from Ashgabat city to Gokdepe city.
   • Continue to Dark Gorge and head back to camp for rest.

   Overnight in tents.

7. Day-7: Dark Gorge – Ashgabat

   • Early morning, view an ancient settlement, Archman fortress cave “Div-Govok”, and stream.
   • Stop for lunch and head back to camp at Ashgabat city.
   • Enjoy dinner with folk show performances like dance, music and traditional wedding ceremony.

   Overnight at the hotel.

8. Day-8: Ashgabat

   • Night ride to the Ashgabat International Airport to board a flight to the next destination.