Uzbekistan: the Silk Road in style

What you can do

• Stand in Registan square in Samarkand at opening time before the tour groups arrive
• Walk the whole old town of Bukhara on foot, it is small and beautifully preserved
• Take the high speed Afrosiyob train between cities, it is comfortable and cheap
• Add Khiva if you have two spare days for the most complete walled old city

Food to try

Plov is the centre of every table, rice with lamb, carrot and cumin, and each city makes it differently. Add samsa from a tandoor, lagman noodles, shashlik and round non bread that is never cut with a knife.

Culture & customs

This is a Muslim country with a Soviet century behind it, so mosques and concrete apartment blocks sit side by side. Guests are treated formally and generously, and bread is never placed face down.