Uzbekistan

A trip through the heart of the
Silk Road – Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is still somewhat of a mystery for people in the West, a fact illustrated by the extraordinarily high search volume for “Where is Uzbekistan?” on Google. Time to unveil the mystery of beautiful Uzbekistan!

Located in the heart of Central Asia, the borders of Uzbekistan include Kazakhstan to the northwest, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, Afghanistan to the south and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Uzbekistan is one of the two countries in the world that is double-landlocked (the other being Liechtenstein).

Thanks to this geographical location, Uzbekistan is often referred to as being at the crossroads between East and West. The Uzbek culture is an interesting mix of Persian, Greek, Arab, Chinese, Russian and Mongol.

The history of Uzbekistan is long and lustrous, but it is not until trade around the Silk Route picks up that Uzbekistan begins to flourish. Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Tashkent became important stops along the trade route and to this day continue to marvel travelers.

While the architecture has remained untouched for centuries, the goods traded in the markets have been somewhat modernized:  Exotic spices have made room for trinkets, handwoven scarves and the occasional wooly hat.

Since 2016 the country has seen a steady influx of foreign investment which has allowed for rapid modernization of the crumbling infrastructure. The main tourist sites of Bukhara, Khiva, Samarkand and Tashkent are well connected via an intuitive network of trains. This combined with the genuine nature of the Uzbeks makes Uzbekistan a very safe country to visit both solo or in a group.