Things to do in Tashkent if you have more than one day

The Hazrati Imam complex, also called Khast Imam, is the religious centre. The Muyi Muborak library holds a Quran manuscript that tradition links to Caliph Uthman. Beside it are the Barak Khan madrasah and the mausoleum of Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi. The square is compact, but it is not a ten-minute dash: shoes come off, and Friday has a different rhythm.

From the complex you can walk to Chorsu, the domed covered bazaar. People buy bread, dried fruit and spices, not a magnet. Bargaining is normal. Photographing a seller without asking is not.

The Tashkent metro opened in 1977. Stations are decorated halls: space, cotton, literature. This is not “transport to the nearest mosque”. With changes of line it is an hour or two of looking. Photo rules on stations have changed. Read the notice at the entrance before you raise a camera.

Amir Timur Square is the formal face of the newer city. Mustaqillik Square is the independence ensemble, on a different scale. Between them, metro or a taxi is the sensible move. Walking the avenues eats the time you meant to give a museum.

The Museum of Applied Arts sits in an old house: carving, embroidery, ceramics, without the pressure of the main postcard. The State Museum of the Timurids is the history you will later see in stone in Samarkand. The Minor mosque is a large modern building. Look at it from the square. Do not go there hunting for antiquity.

The television tower gives height over the city if the deck is open that day. The Japanese garden and pedestrian Sayilgoh are about pace. Plov at a plov centre is a meal, not a dessert after a museum: the portion is large, and people go at lunch.

Chimgan, Babaitag and Ugam rafting are not city sights. They are day trips. The mountains are in which peak from Tashkent. Registan is not in Tashkent either. It is in Samarkand, and mixing the two is a common mistake on short routes.

Do not put Khast Imam, Chorsu, the metro, the tower and Chimgan on one day. In summer the open squares are harsh after midday. In winter the short light cuts the same list from the other end.

In Sunny Uzbekistan — 4 days the capital is arrival plus a look at the old city, then the train to Samarkand and Bukhara. That fits Khast Imam and Chorsu. It does not fit the metro as its own walk plus a second museum.

Classic Uzbekistan — 8 days does not turn Tashkent into a week-long base either. After the city the route goes to Samarkand, Gijduvan, Bukhara and Khiva. If you want two or three full days in the capital, say so while the program is being built, not the evening before the Afrosiyob.