The 10 Places That Actually Justify a Trip to Uzbekistan

Everyone knows the square with three madrasahs from postcards. Fewer know it was not one design but a conversation that took two hundred years. The Ulugh Beg madrasah was built in the early 15th century. The Sher-Dor opposite came only in the 17th century and repeats its outline like a reflection. The third, Tilla-Kari, closed the square last.

Look at the Sher-Dor portal: big cats (lions or tigers, people still argue) chase deer, with a sun with a human face rising behind them. Images of living creatures are rare in Islamic architecture, and guides like to stop here. Come twice: at midday for the detail, near sunset for the light. More in our page on the Registan.

Bukhara has about 140 listed monuments, and almost all of them fit into an old town you can cover on foot. Two buildings hold its skyline. The Ark fortress was the seat of Bukhara's rulers for more than a thousand years, until 1920.

The Kalyan minaret has stood since 1127. The legend says Genghis Khan, who took the city, looked up at the tower and ordered it left alone. True or not, the minaret outlived almost everything around it. Visitors are usually not allowed up, and you do not need to be: it is visible from almost anywhere in the old town and is the easiest landmark when you get lost in the lanes. See Poi Kalyan and the Ark.

The inner town of Khiva is walled, and inside the walls little has changed since the days of the khans. In 1990 Itchan Kala became Uzbekistan's first World Heritage site.

Its most recognisable building is unfinished. The Kalta-Minor, the «short minaret», was begun under Muhammad Amin-Khan in the middle of the 19th century. The khan died, the work stopped, and the wide turquoise tower stayed cut short. One legend says it was meant to be tall enough to see Bukhara from the top. You can walk the whole inner town in one unhurried day; our Itchan Kala guide has the route.

Many travellers rush through Tashkent on the way to Samarkand. That is a mistake. Since March 2026 the city has the Center of Islamic Civilization, and in its Qur'an Hall, under the great dome, lies the Mushaf of Uthman, a 7th-century Qur'an listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. For years it was kept in a small library at the Hazrati Imam ensemble across the square. The book has travelled: in 1869 it was taken from Samarkand to St Petersburg, and it came back to Central Asia in 1924. Book a timed slot; details are in our guide to the Center of Islamic Civilization.

In the evening, go down into the metro. It opened in 1977, and each station is decorated in its own way: marble, chandeliers, ceramic panels, no two alike. Photography has been allowed since 2018, so bring a camera. Our metro guide goes station by station.

This is not one monument but a necropolis: a narrow street of mausoleums built over centuries, mostly for the Timurid nobility, each faced with tiles in its own pattern.

A steep staircase leads in, and a belief goes with it: count the steps on the way up and on the way down, and if the numbers match, your sins are forgiven. Shah-i-Zinda is also a place of prayer, so dress modestly. The narrow street is best in low light, early or late; our Shah-i-Zinda page explains which tomb is which.

Shahrisabz is Amir Timur's home town, and here he built his most ambitious palace, Ak-Saray, from 1380 to 1404. In 1404 the Castilian envoy Ruy González de Clavijo came through, and he wrote that work was still going on.

The palace collapsed long ago. What remains are the two huge towers of the entrance portal, still tiled. A well-known translation of its inscription runs: «If you doubt our power, look at our buildings». Scholars debate its accuracy, but the point is clear. Shahrisabz is a day trip from Samarkand over the pass; see Ak-Saray and the Shahrisabz day.

About an hour and a half from Tashkent, the plain ends and real mountains begin, the western spurs of the Tien Shan. Big Chimgan rises to 3,309 metres.

There are two resorts: old Chimgan and Amirsoy, which opened at the end of 2019. Lifts run in winter, trails open in summer. It is the fastest way to swap madrasahs for mountain air without leaving the capital for more than a day. Our Chimgan and Charvak day plan shows how.

The name means «by the pond». Bukhara once had many such ponds, or hauz. The city drew water from them, and diseases bred in them too. In Soviet times most were filled in. Lyabi-Hauz, dug in the early 17th century, is one of the few that survived.

Around it stand old mulberry trees, the Kukeldash and Nadir Divan-Begi madrasahs and a few teahouses, plus a statue of Khoja Nasreddin on his donkey that gets more photos than the madrasahs. It is the best place in Bukhara to stop for an hour: order tea and watch the square. More in Lyabi-Hauz and Chor Minor.

Every other place on this list is about what survived. Muynak is about what disappeared. It was once a fishing port; now the water is more than a hundred kilometres away, and rusting trawlers stand in the sand.

It is not a stop on the way but a separate detour of at least two days, usually from Nukus. Our Aral Sea extension covers it, and we wrote a longer guide to the Aral if you are considering the trip.

One district of Karakalpakstan is simply called Ellikkala, «fifty fortresses». In the desert across the Amu Darya from Khiva and Urgench lie the ruins of ancient Khorezmian towns. Ayaz-Kala is among the best preserved: its clay walls have stood for more than two thousand years on a hill at the edge of the oasis, where you can see what they guarded against.

There are few visitors, and that is the main argument. If Khiva is the end of your route, add a half-day: our trip to the Ayaz-Kala fortress includes a guide and tickets. The background is in Khorezm's desert fortresses.