Give Tashkent two to three days. Start in the Old City at the Khast Imam complex and Chorsu Bazaar, ride the mosaic metro stations between sights, and spend an afternoon on the museums around Amir Timur Square. It is also the launch pad for the Afrosiyob train to Samarkand and Bukhara, so most Silk Road trips begin here.
Uzbekistan's capital is the largest city in Central Asia and the one most travellers land in first. A 1966 earthquake flattened the old centre, so Tashkent reads as two cities at once: Soviet avenues, mosaic apartment blocks and a marble metro on one side, the mosques, madrasahs and bazaars of the Old City on the other.
Tashkent's religious heart, and the one corner of the Old City the 1966 earthquake spared. The square gathers the 16th-century Barak-Khan Madrasah, the Tilla Sheikh Mosque and the Kaffal Shashi mausoleum around the modern Hazrati Imam Mosque. The 7th-century Uthman Quran was long kept here and now sits nearby.
The market that has fed Tashkent since the Silk Road, now under a giant turquoise dome rebuilt after 1966. The tiered halls sell spices, dried fruit, non bread stacked by the hundred, mountains of melon in summer and a butcher's floor most visitors photograph before they buy. It is the best single hour in the city for a sense of everyday Uzbek life.
The first underground railway in Central Asia, opened in 1977, and a museum you pay a flat fare to ride. Each station is themed: cosmonauts in blue and starlight at Kosmonavtlar, cotton mosaics at Pakhtakor, desert marble at Mustaqillik Maydoni. Photography was banned until 2018 because the stations doubled as bomb shelters.
The best single museum in the country for the long view, from Zoroastrian and Buddhist Central Asia through the Silk Road to independence. The Kushan-era Buddha of Fayaz Tepa and the archaeology halls are the highlight; the upper floors turn political and are easy to skim. Labelling in English is patchy, so it rewards a slow walk.
The green heart of the modern city, laid out under the tsars and centred on an equestrian statue of Amir Timur, the 14th-century conqueror Uzbekistan claims as its founding hero. On the north side, the blue-domed State Museum of the Temurids traces his empire and the golden age of Samarkand under Ulugh Beg. The square is free and shaded.
The largest surviving madrasah in Tashkent, built around 1570 under the Shaybanid dynasty and still teaching students today. The portal and inner courtyard are the draw, a rare piece of pre-Soviet Tashkent standing above Chorsu on the old town's ridge. Pair it with the bazaar below and the Old City mosques a short walk away.
Tashkent's newest landmark and its most photographed, finished in 2014 in white Turkish marble with a sky-blue dome and slender twin minarets. It sits on the Ankhor canal in a landscaped park, luminous at either end of the day. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times, and the interior is as spare and bright as the shell.
The country's main civic space, staged around the Independence Monument, an arch of storks and a globe marking Uzbekistan on it. Fountains, rose beds and the Monument of Courage nearby give the area over to evening strollers. It is the stage for the biggest national holidays, Navruz and Independence Day above all.
At 375 metres, the TV tower is one of the tallest structures in Central Asia, with an observation deck and revolving cafe looking out over the whole low-rise city. Next door is the Central Asian Plov Centre, Besh Qozon, where cooks turn out plov in cauldrons the size of paddling pools until it sells out by early afternoon. Come for the view, stay for the rice.
Tashkent's grand opera house, built in the 1940s by the architect who designed Lenin's mausoleum and decorated inside with hall after hall of regional Uzbek craftwork. Tickets for opera and ballet are a fraction of European prices, and the building is worth a look even if you do not see a show. It is dark on Mondays.
The religious heart of the Old City: madrasahs, the Hazrati Imam Mosque and the Uthman Quran connection, all around one quiet square.
Tashkent's largest surviving madrasah, built around 1570 and still a working religious school above Chorsu.
White marble and a blue dome on the Ankhor canal, finished in 2014 and the city's most photographed building.
A cracked granite block and a defiant family group marking the epicentre of the 1966 earthquake and the rebuild that followed.
A short pedestrian street between Amir Timur Square and Independence Square, lined with portrait artists, buskers and cafe terraces in the evening.
The compact 1890s mansion built for an exiled Russian grand duke, now a government reception hall admired from the outside for its brickwork and railings.
The blue-domed museum on Amir Timur Square tracing Tamerlane's empire and the golden age of his grandson Ulugh Beg.
Uzbek suzani embroidery, ceramics and carved ganch set in the tiled 1890s mansion of a tsarist diplomat, Alexander Polovtsev.
Two centuries of painting, from Russian and European canvases to Uzbek modernism, in a large Soviet-era gallery.
A sober, well-designed museum by the Japanese Garden covering tsarist and Soviet repression in Central Asia.
An open-air line-up of steam and Soviet locomotives beside the central station, a hit with anyone travelling by train.
The famous one: cobalt walls, star-field ceiling and ceramic medallions of cosmonauts from Gagarin to Tereshkova.
Blue-domed ceilings and majolica panels echoing Silk Road madrasahs, named for the 15th-century poet.
Bright white marble quarried from the Kyzylkum desert, with crystal chandeliers, beneath Independence Square.
A domed, tiled station that lands you at the doorstep of the Old City and the bazaar of the same name.
A landscaped pond garden with tea pavilions and koi, laid out with Japanese designers off Amir Temur Street.
The former Gorky Park on the Ankhor canal, with a lake, a Ferris wheel and shaded avenues that fill on weekends.
One of the largest botanical gardens in Central Asia, best in spring and again for autumn colour off Bogishamol Street.
A big, modern riverside park on reclaimed land, good for a run, a bike hire or a stroll away from traffic.
A landscaped central park of fountains and lawns around the Minor Mosque, the showpiece of the new downtown.
The historic covered market under its turquoise dome: spices, non bread, dried fruit and a full butcher's floor.
A tidier, more central produce market (also spelled Alay) known for fruit, nuts and honey near the embassies.
A sprawling weekend flea market for Soviet cameras, coins, carpets and bric-a-brac, best on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
A large mainstream mall with international brands, a food court and a cinema, handy on a hot afternoon.
The glossy retail anchor of the new Tashkent City district, beside the park and the business towers.
The city's plov institution beside the TV tower, cooking rice and lamb by the cauldron until it sells out around lunchtime.
A polished, English-menu take on Uzbek and Central Asian classics with a shaded terrace on Taras Shevchenko Street.
A long-running family restaurant and art cafe serving Uzbek staples in air-conditioned comfort near Amir Timur Square.
A no-frills local canteen by the old circus turning out plov, naryn and dimlama for a few dollars a head.
The Western Tian Shan foothills about 80 km east: turquoise Charvak reservoir in summer, chairlifts and hiking on the Chimgan slopes.
A modern alpine resort near Chimgan with a gondola to about 2,000 metres, skiing in winter and green-season walking the rest of the year.
The biggest secular celebration of the year, with decorated trees, fireworks and crowds on Independence Square at midnight.
A public holiday marked with flowers across the city; expect restaurants and parks to be busy.
The Central Asian new year and the year's largest festival: sumalak cooked overnight, music and food stalls on the square.
The public holiday marking the end of Ramadan, a day of family visits and shared meals. The date shifts each year.
A solemn public holiday honouring the war dead, centred on the Monument of Courage and the eternal flame.
Uzbekistan's national day, with concerts, parades and the largest fireworks of the year over the city centre.
The 'Pearl of the Silk Road' festival, revived in 2021, brings screenings and premieres to cinemas across the capital.
A public holiday marking the 1992 constitution, with concerts and civic events in the centre.
The main gateway to Uzbekistan sits about 12 km south of the centre, Terminal 2 international and Terminal 3 domestic. Order a Yandex Go car into town in 20 to 30 minutes.
Tashkent is the northern end of the high-speed line. The Afrosiyob reaches Samarkand in about 2 hours 10 and Bukhara in around 4. Book online well ahead in season.
The four-line metro is the fastest way across the centre and a sight in its own right, at a flat contactless fare. An ATTO card also covers the buses.
Yandex Go is the default: cheap, cashless and simpler than flagging a car. Worth it for outlying sights like the TV tower. Agree a price first if you hail an unmarked car.
The national dish: rice slow-cooked with lamb, carrots, onion and cumin in a cauldron, often with chickpeas.
Flaky pastries of minced lamb and onion baked against the wall of a clay tandoor until the crust blisters.
Hand-pulled noodles in a peppery broth with beef and vegetables, an Uyghur dish gone Central Asian.
Skewers of marinated lamb, beef or minced kebab grilled over coals and served with raw onion and non bread.
Large steamed dumplings of minced lamb and onion, eaten with sour cream or black pepper.
A clear, fragrant lamb soup with big chunks of potato and carrot, the standard winter starter and a cure-all.
A one-pot stew of meat and layered vegetables steamed slowly in their own juices, homely and generous.
Round tandoor-baked bread, stamped with a chekich in the centre and never placed upside down.
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Uzbekistan