Uzbekistan · Central Asia

Tashkent.

Silk Road heritage meets Soviet modernism.

Tashkent is the gateway to the great Silk Road cities — Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva — but the capital itself deserves a long stay. Blue-tiled madrasas sit a metro stop from brutalist Soviet plazas; the bazaar at Chorsu smells of cumin and grilled lamb; and the Uzbek welcome is unmistakably warm. One of the most under-rated long-haul destinations our desk books.