Highlights of Central Uzbekistan
Central Uzbekistan is home to many of the country’s most celebrated sights, and is where most travellers will spend the majority of their time. The not-to-be-missed Silk Road cities of Bukhara and Samarkand are both absolutely jam-packed with top historical and cultural sights, and both merit a stay of several days each. Make sure you are wearing comfortable shoes and your camera is fully charged! The transport links in this part of the country are more developed than other areas, with the high-speed train linking Bukhara and Samarkand to the capital city. Central Uzbekistan also gives travellers the chance to take a break from the architecture and stay overnight in a Kazakh-style yurt camp in the Kyzyl-Kum Desert near Lake Aydarkul.
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One of the most important cities in Central Asia, Bukhara has some buildings which have been standing for a thousand years. The jewel in Bukhara’s crown is undoubtedly the Poi-Kalyan Ensemble, home to the incredible Kalon Minaret. There are too many sights here for a single day, so try to spread your visit over a couple of days!
Travellers make the journey to Lake Aydarkul to stay in one of the Kazakh style yurt camps which are dotted along the banks of the lake in the surrounding desert, where you can ride a camel across the dunes, take a dip in the cooling waters of the lake, and spend the night under the stars in your own cosy yurt.
Generally used as a stop en route from Bukhara to Samarkand to the desert yurt camps near Lake Aydarkul, Nurata was once home to Alexander the Great, and some fragments of his fortress can still be seen.
The chances are if you’ve heard of only one place in Central Asia, it would be Samarkand. Long celebrated by Western poets and writers, the name today still evokes all the grandeur of the ancient Silk Road. Nowadays Samarkand is a modern city, with wide boulevards and green parks, and is home to some of the finest Islamic architecture to be seen anywhere in the world.