Tashkent

For over two millennia, the oasis of Tashkent (ancient Chach, watered by the Chirchiq River flowing down from the Western Tian Shan mountains) stood as the northern crossroads of the Silk Road. After a devastating earthquake flattened much of the mud-brick city in April 1966, architects and craftspeople from across the Soviet Union rebuilt Tashkent as a showcase city of wide shaded boulevards, fountains, earthquake-proof Metro stations and sun-screened modernist monuments.

Alongside that bold 20th-century canvas survives the older heart of Chorsu Bazaar, Kukeldash Madrasah and the Khast Imam Complex, where the world's oldest surviving deer-parchment Quran is preserved. Start with our first-timer briefing and Tashkent plov and food overview.

Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport (TAS) sits remarkably close to the city centre, only six kilometres south of Amir Timur Square and Oybek. For onward Silk Road rail journeys to Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, passenger trains use either central Tashkent North Station (Toshkent-Shimoliy) beside Toshkent Metro station or Tashkent South Station (Toshkent-Janubiy). See how to get to Tashkent and book trains.

Staying within a ten-minute walk of Amir Timur Square, Mustaqillik Maydoni or Kosmonavtlar / Oybek gives you leafy parks, independent restaurants and direct underground links on both the Chilonzor and O'zbekiston Metro lines. Compare every district in where to stay in Tashkent.

Step beneath the giant turquoise-tiled dome of Chorsu Bazaar and view the 7th-century Usman Quran at Khast Imam, ride underground to photograph the space-age ceramic medallions of Kosmonavtlar and Alisher Navoi Metro stations, and watch master cooks stir giant cast-iron cauldrons at Besh Qozon Plov Centre. See the full list in things to do in Tashkent.

In Uzbekistan, plov (osh) is not merely a dish; it is a midday ritual cooked over open wood fires in massive cast-iron kazans with yellow and red carrots, lamb, chickpeas, raisins and whole heads of garlic. Pair Tashkent's festive to'y oshi with crisp clay-oven samsa pastries, round non flatbreads stamped at Chorsu Bazaar, hand-pulled lagman noodles and green tea. Read where to eat in plov, Besh Qozon and Uzbek food.

Tashkent's visual culture is a fascinating synthesis of traditional Uzbek ganch (carved alabaster plaster), glazed ceramic tilework and 1970s seismic modernism, where brutalist concrete facades were wrapped in geometric sun-breakers (panjara) inspired by Silk Road madrasahs to filter the Central Asian sun.