On the dusty desert road to Samarkand, Bukhara shimmers in hues of sandstone and turquoise under the Uzbek sun. It was once one of the wealthiest stop-offs on the old silk trail into the Far East, and still proudly dons a veneer of arabesque opulence for all to see. Of course the UNESCO core of the city has an abundance of eye-popping wonders on the menu—the Char Minar Madrassah with its bulbous green-blue domes, the towering Kalon Minaret with its eerie history of past executions, the Samanid mausoleum of Ismoil Somoni—while the ensemble of the massive madrassahs in the Labi-hauz area and the sprawling ancient bazaars that still cluster around the centre stands as testimony to the cultural and mercantile importance of this aged and weathered town. Once the sightseeing is done, be sure to join your Bukhara tour guide in one of the city’s earthy tearooms for a steaming pot of aromatic ginger brew, or delve into one of the many guesthouses for a tasting of traditional Turkish cum Uzbek cuisine.