Silk Road Stops: How to visit the Seven Lakes in Tajikistan

Alright, so change of scenery. Last spring, I spent a few weeks in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, visiting some of the main Silk Road sites. I went to Central Asia for the first time in 2017 but didn’t make it to Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. Today, I’ll write about one of my favourite places: the Seven Lakes in Tajikistan’s Fann Mountains .

Many people go to Tajikistan to do the Pamir highway. This trip requires a lot of money, 4x4s, at least a week and a lot of preparation. It’s something that I would be open to doing this in the future. The Seven Lakes in the Fann Mountains are more accessible physically and economically.

Where are the Fann mountains, and how do I get to them?

The Fann Mountains are in northwestern Tajikistan, just above the capital Dushanbe. The seven lakes are closest to Penjakent, just over the border from Uzbekistan and only an hour from Samarkand.

Getting to Penjakent is relatively easy. If you are entering from Uzbekistan, it is about an hour to the Tajik border and about 20 more minutes to Penjanet. You will take two shared rides. They can differ in comfort and price. We paid roughly 8 Euros on the way to Samarkand. You can also find package day trips from Samarkand like this one for a higher cost.

If you are already in Tajikistan, you can easily get to Penjekent from Khujand and Dushanbe with the same type of transport. Honestly, the prices depend on how good you are at Russian and what you are willing to accept. I know basic Russian, and my travel companion is fluent. We managed to get a pretty good deal. The one thing I had to double down on was the number of passengers. They try to put more passengers in the car than agreed upon. Make sure to insist when you negotiate a price on this. Honestly, I wouldn’t go over 20 euros tops for something mid-level.

If you don’t feel the shared ride, you can fly domestically around Tajikistan cheaply. We flew from Khujand to Dushanbe for about 35 euros.

Getting to the Seven Lakes from Penjakent

It’s possible to do it independently; we almost did this. We would have done this if we were there later in the spring. It takes several days, and you must manage a route there and back. Some people hire a guide to accompany them who sets up many stops for them. This can get pricey but saves a lot of trouble. It’s also good for the local economy as Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia, with one of the highest rates of food insecurity.

Some people kind of half plan the guest houses and walk it alone. Others camp or go in their own 4X4s. The possibilities are endless. We ended up paying a guy from our guesthouse to take us. We paid him 35 euros each for the whole day. I highly recommend something like this. We walked from the 6th to the 7th lake, and got a small taste of the walking experience. Some good guesthouses in Penjakent are Hotel Sugud and Salom Hostel. They have some useful insight on helping you arrange your trip.

This is a perfect middle ground for those who don’t want to splurge on some exorbitant day trip from Samarkand. We might have paid for a guided 2-3 day trip if I wasn’t working remotely or we were in a better season.

About the Seven Lakes

The names of the seven lakes are Mizhgon (eyelash), Soja (shady), Gushor (nimble), Nofin (bellybutton), Churdak (small), Marguzor (blossoming place) and Hazorchashma (a thousand springs). The best ones are the 6th and 7th.

The best time to go is between June and September. The weather is relatively mild, and the lakes are thawed. However, weather can be unpredictable in mountainous regions, so be prepared for sudden changes.

Some other things to know

• This is a great area to practice Russian. You will meet many people along these lakes who are ager to to learn about you The people are friendly and happy to meet foreigners; you can even find people wanting to practice English since they get many Europeans coming in the high season for adventure tourism.
• Be careful with bargaining. I mentioned that the more Russian you know, the better prices you will get. But go easy; Tajiks earn less than 150 a month. Many of them have to work in Russia to send remittances home. It is a bad look if you are a North American or Western European passport holder and aggressively bargaining over a couple of euros.
• One thing you can be insistent with is safety; many people in Central Asia will try to insist you don’t need a seat belt because they are good enough drivers. This needs to change—the same with overfilling a car or handing children to sit in a stranger’s lap. You can’t change their political situation or their ideas on some social issues, but you can influence this.
• If you are over, let’s say, 25 and/or without children, expect a million questions about why

There you have it !!

The area is really hospitable, and I really am one of those who don’t like to throw the “H word” around lightly and often get irriated when people do, but I did find this area to be more hospitabl and kind than anywhere else I’ve been to in Central Asia. We gave the principal a ride, and he invited us later to his school for tea. This was my first time in a principal’s office in over 15 years.

This is definitely one of the things I recommend the most if you are near Samarkand or visiting Tajikistan. What is next? Stay tuned to read more about Central Asia, personality cults, and more! You will learn more about the portriat in the principal’s office as well.