烏茲別克玩樂指南

Samarkand, the great Silk Road city, has the Registan, a square of three tiled madrasas, the blue-domed tomb of Timur and the avenue of mausoleums at Shah-i-Zinda. Bukhara has a UNESCO-listed old town of trading domes, the Kalyan Minaret, the Ark fortress and a pool framed by mulberry trees. Khiva's walled inner city of Ichan Kala is a maze of clay-brick lanes and turquoise tiles.

Urgench, in the Khorezm region, is the airport and gateway to Khiva. Nukus, capital of Karakalpakstan in the west, has a museum of Soviet-era avant-garde art, and the ship graveyard at the former Aral Sea shore lies to the north. Tashkent, the capital, has an underground railway with decorated stations and the Chorsu Bazaar, and the Fergana Valley in the east is the centre of silk and ceramics.

Plov, rice with lamb, carrots and chickpeas cooked in a huge pot, is the national dish, and samsa pastries are baked in clay tandoors. Round flat bread, green tea and melons complete the table. April to June and September to October are the comfortable months for sightseeing.