Experience the best of Urgench

Urgench is a modern, low-built regional capital in the irrigated oasis of Khorezm, where the Amu Darya River feeds fields of cotton, melons and orchards between the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. The city has an airport and a busy bazaar, but its main role is as the nearest large town to Khiva.

Khiva, about thirty kilometres south-west, is a walled inner town of mud-brick ramparts, turquoise-tiled minarets, carved wooden columns and old madrasas, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The ruined desert forts of ancient Khorezm, the Ellikala, stand in the sands across the Amu Darya, and the former capital Kunya-Urgench lies over the border in Turkmenistan.

Khorezm cooking has its own dishes: shivit oshi, noodles coloured green with dill and served with stewed meat; tuhum barak, dumplings stuffed with egg; and plov, flatbreads and the oasis's melons, dried or fresh. Winters are cold and July heat is fierce, with the milder weather in spring and autumn.