Experience the best of Osh

Osh lies in the Fergana Valley in the south of Kyrgyzstan, close to the border with Uzbekistan, and is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, with a history said to reach back some three thousand years. Sulaiman-Too, a rocky mountain rising from the middle of the city, has been a pilgrimage site for centuries and is a World Heritage site, with caves, shrines and a museum built into the rock.

Jayma Bazaar, a large market beside the Ak-Buura river, sells bread, spices, fruit, textiles and household goods, and is the heart of daily life in Osh. Close to the mountain stands a small mosque said to have been built by Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, who was born in the Fergana Valley. Osh is also the starting point of the Pamir Highway, the road that climbs into Tajikistan.

Osh plov, rice cooked with meat and carrots in a large cauldron, is the city's signature meal, alongside samsa, lagman noodles and flatbread baked in clay ovens. Winters are cold and summers hot, and apricots ripen in early summer, giving the orchards of the valley a golden season.