Tashkent

What you actually see

An earthquake in 1966 destroyed most of the old city and what went up in its place was Soviet concrete on a grand scale, which is why Tashkent reads as modern in a way the rest of the country does not. What survived is worth the detour. The Hazrati Imam complex north of Chorsu was one of the few medieval ensembles left standing, and its library holds the Uthman Quran, among the oldest copies in the world.

The bazaar and the metro

Chorsu Bazaar sits under a great blue dome and is a working market rather than a display, loudest and best in the morning. The metro is the other thing people do not expect: the stations were built as public architecture, each one decorated to its own theme, and for the price of a token you can spend an hour looking at them.

Why you start here

Tashkent has the international airport and the head of the high-speed rail line. Samarkand is about two hours away by train and Bukhara another eighty minutes beyond it, which is what makes a three-city trip possible inside four days. Treating the capital purely as an arrival point is a fair choice, but a single day here changes how the rest of the country reads.

How long to give it

One night at the start is enough if you are heading straight for Samarkand. Two if you want the bazaar and the old quarter at a normal pace.

When to go

Average daytime high, night-time low and rain days for Tashkent, from five years of recorded observations rather than a forecast or a brochure.

Comfortable months: Apr to May, Sep to Oct.