Where should we begin about the innumerable charms of Uzbekistan? Perhaps with the shimmering turquoise mosaics and bulbous blue-painted domes of Samarkand, the mysterious city of Timur in the east? Maybe with the UNESCO-attested madrassas of Bukhara, the mighty cultural melting pot of the ancient Silk Road? Khiva’s adobe homes and arabesque crenulations are a mind-boggling sight for sure, while the wild foxes and snow leopards, high mountain pastures and snow-topped peaks of the Ugam-Chatkal and Tien Shan can’t be overlooked either (literally!).

There’s so much nestled in this Central Asian nation, that it’s easy to see why travellers are wowed here. There’s history, millennia of it in fact going through Alexander the Great to the Mongol Hordes and the Russian Empire. There’s culture by the bucket load too, oozing from every crevice and filigree of mosques and madrassahs, or each aromatic spice stall in every souk and tchai (tea) house from Urgench to Shahrisabz. There’s modernism too, rising high in symphony with the oil and mineral booms around Tashkent, the capital.

One disclaimer: be sure to ask your Uzbekistan tour guide about safety tips and proper conduct – this one’s no stranger to political and humanitarian upheavals!