Uzbekistan

Visa requirements for Uzbekistan depend on which passport you hold. Check the Traveller visa tool to see whether your passport needs a visa and, if so, how long you can stay.

April–May (spring, flowers, mild heat) and September–October (harvest, cooler temperatures) are the ideal windows. The Silk Road cities — Samarkand (Registan, Shah-i-Zinda, Tamerlane's mausoleum), Bukhara (the Ark fortress, Poi Kalyon complex), and Khiva (Ichan Kala — a perfectly preserved walled city) — are extraordinary in any season. July–August is extremely hot (40°C+).

• Modest dress throughout — Uzbekistan is a Muslim-majority country
• Cover head, shoulders, and knees at mosques and medressas
• Silk ikat fabric (the national textile) is sold everywhere — a beautiful souvenir

• Uzbekistan contains the greatest concentration of Silk Road monuments on earth — Samarkand was Tamerlane's capital in the 14th century and is genuinely one of the world's great cities
• Plov (rice cooked with lamb, carrots, and onions in a kazan) is the national dish and a point of great pride — eaten communally from a single platter
• Uzbek hospitality is extraordinary — tea houses (chaikhanas) are the social centre of every town
• The Aral Sea (once the world's fourth-largest lake, now largely dried up due to Soviet irrigation policies) is one of the world's greatest ecological disasters — the ship graveyard at Moynaq is accessible from Nukus

• LGBTQ+ same-sex activity is illegal with up to 3 years imprisonment — exercise extreme caution
• Drug offences carry severe penalties
• Photography restrictions around government buildings and military