Experience the best of Nukus

Nukus lies on the Amu Darya delta in north-western Uzbekistan, as the capital of the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, at the edge of the desert. It is a Soviet-era city of wide avenues and low blocks. Its great treasure is the Savitsky Museum, which holds an outstanding collection of Russian avant-garde art, gathered by the artist Igor Savitsky, who saved works banned in the Soviet era, together with Karakalpak textiles, jewellery and archaeological finds.

North of the city, Moynaq, once a port on the Aral Sea, now has rusting ships stranded in the sand, a reminder of the sea's retreat. The ruined fortresses of ancient Khorezm, such as Ayaz-Kala and Toprak-Kala, stand in the desert to the south-east, and Mizdakhan, a vast old necropolis near Khodjeyli, is close. Khiva, with its walled old city, lies less than 200 km to the south-east.

Plov, shashlik, samsa and manty fill the tables, with flat bread baked in clay ovens and green tea, and fish dishes recall the days when the Aral Sea fed the region. Summers are very hot and dry, winters are cold with winds off the steppe, and spring and autumn, particularly April, May, September and October, are the most pleasant times to visit.