Magical Silk Road cities, epic wide open spaces and a quirky Soviet past; Uzbekistan has it all. It has come under the rule of empires such as the Macedonian, the Arab, the Persian, and the Mongol. Today Uzbeks only came into the picture in the 1500s with the creation of modern day Uzbekistan, which came into being after the dissolution of the Soviet States in the late 1900s.
The Silk Road cities of Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva hold some of the world’s most exquisite Islamic architecture and those three cities are must visit cities in Uzbekistan. Hectic bazaars, half-hidden desert citadels, silk workshops and the chance to glimpse the vanishing Aral Sea are all world-class draws, and the country is also a convenient launching pad for treks and travel within Central Asia.