Central Asia
Discover the Heart of the Silk Road
Two thousand years of caravans, astronomers, poets and blue-domed cities — and a country writing its next chapter right now.
What this is
A country at the centre of everything
For most of recorded history, the roads between China and the Mediterranean ran straight through here.
Uzbekistan is where Silk Road caravans unloaded, where algebra got its name, where Timur built an empire out of Samarkand, and where an entire generation of reformers tried to remake a society with printing presses and schools. This site is an open invitation to all of it — written for travellers, students, researchers, and for Uzbeks living far from home who want their country explained well.
- 14
- Regions to explore
- 7
- UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 2,750
- Years of continuous city life
- 6
- Languages on this site
Browse by theme
Ten ways in
Start anywhere. Each path opens onto the others.
Talk to anyone
Speak, and be understood in Uzbek
Say it or type it in your language, and the phone answers in Uzbek, in Latin and Cyrillic script. When someone replies in Uzbek, you read it in yours.
- Voice or text, in six languages
- Latin and Cyrillic, and a full-screen view to show a local
- Keeps working when the AI is busy, with the phrasebook as a last resort
Tap to talk
Recordings go to an AI service only to be transcribed, and this site does not keep them.
Interactive map
Fourteen regions, one country
Select any region to zoom in and see what it is known for.
No region selected yet
Choose a region on the map, or pick one from the list.
List of regions
Today in Uzbekistan
Something worth knowing
The word "algorithm" is a corruption of al-Khwarizmi — a mathematician from Khwarezm. "Algebra" comes from the title of his book.
Read more about thisUzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries on earth: every one of its neighbours is also without a coastline.
Read more about thisUzbek has no grammatical gender. The single pronoun "u" covers he, she and it — you learn who is meant from context.
Plov is not only a dish but a listed heritage practice: UNESCO added palov culture and tradition to its Intangible Heritage list in 2016.
Read more about thisBukhara's Kalyan Minaret has stood since 1127. Tradition holds it is the one building Genghis Khan ordered left alone.
Read more about thisThe dried bed of the Aral Sea is now the Aralkum — the youngest desert on the planet, created within living memory.
Read more about thisPhotographing the Tashkent metro was banned until 2018. Its stations were built to double as civil defence shelters — and designed like halls.
Read more about thisUzbekistan holds seven UNESCO World Heritage sites. The first was Khiva's walled Itchan Kala, inscribed in 1990.
Read more about thisIn 2021 Nodirbek Abdusattorov became the youngest World Rapid Chess Champion in history, at seventeen.
Read more about thisA teacup filled to the brim is a polite hint that it is time to leave. A third full means the host wants you to stay.
Read more about thisSumalak, cooked all night for Navruz from sprouted wheat, contains no sugar at all. The sweetness comes from the sprouting itself.
Read more about thisSamarkand has been continuously inhabited for around 2,750 years, which makes it roughly a contemporary of Rome.
Read more about this
Plan your trip
Getting there, officially
Visas, flights, trains and where to start — each link goes straight to the official site, not a reseller.
- VisaCitizens of many countries can visit visa-free. Everyone else applies online for an electronic visa — check your country on the government portal first.e-visa.gov.uz
- FlightsUzbekistan Airways, the national carrier, flies to Tashkent and Samarkand from cities across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.uzairways.com
- TrainsThe Afrosiyob high-speed train links Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. Tickets sell out in spring and autumn, so book early on the railway’s own site.eticket.railway.uz
- Plan the routeThe national tourism portal has routes, festivals, guides and places to stay across all fourteen regions.uzbekistan.travel
Links open the official websites in a new tab. Check visa rules and timetables there before you travel — they change.
Travel toolkitSuggested routes · Weather now · Money converter · Voice translatorYour guide
Meet BEK
BEK answers questions about Uzbekistan in whichever of the six languages you are reading — history, food, where to go, what a word means, why a building looks the way it does.
