Travel

• Land at Tashkent International; buy a SIM card and change some US dollars at the airport bank

• Hazrati Imam complex, home of the 7th-century Uthman Quran

• Chorsu Bazaar under the big blue dome: dried fruit, nuts, spices, fresh non bread

• Ride the metro to see the ornate Kosmonavtlar and Alisher Navoi stations

• Evening at Amir Timur Square

• Chimgan mountains and Charvak reservoir, about 1½–2 h from Tashkent by car

• Cable car at Amirsoy or Chimgan (check the season)

• Back in Tashkent for dinner

• Morning flight Tashkent → Urgench (about 1½ h), then a 30–40 min taxi to Khiva

• Evening walk on the city walls

• Buy the combined Ichan Kala ticket at the West Gate

• Kalta Minor minaret, Kunya Ark and the Juma Mosque with its carved wooden pillars

• Climb the Islam Khodja minaret for the best view in town

• Watch the sunset from the city walls

• Wood-carving and fur-hat workshops inside Ichan Kala

• Dekhon Bazaar outside the East Gate

• Lyabi-Hauz, the plaza around an old pool

• Poi-Kalyan complex and the Kalyan Minaret

• The Ark fortress

• Shop the trading domes: suzani, carpets, knives, stork-shaped scissors

• Samanid Mausoleum and Chor Minor

• Central Bazaar for spices at local prices

• Evening folk show or dinner by Lyabi-Hauz

• Registan: three tiled madrasas, best at sunset and again after dark

• Gur-e-Amir, the tomb of Timur, ancestor of the Mughal emperors

• Shah-i-Zinda, an avenue of blue-tiled mausoleums

• Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Siyob Bazaar for Samarkand bread and dried fruit

• Ulugh Beg Observatory

• Meros paper mill at Konigil village

• Afrosiyob museum and ancient city site

• Siyob Bazaar for gifts to take home