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Welcome to Uzbekistan!
Uzbekistan – a country that was barely on the tourist
map until recently – has come into focus. When I tell people I have been
there, it seems everyone knows someone who was bowled over by it.
Uzbekistan takes hold of the imagination and does not let go.
Tour operators say there has been a huge surge of interest in the country
since the Arab Spring, that it has been seen as an alternative to
countries such as Libya and Syria. Cox & Kings saw a 163% increase in
passengers traveling to Uzbekistan in 2012 over 2011, and reports a 30%
increase in bookings for its 2013 group trip.
Uzbekistan has the extra pull of being about as far from the familiar as
it is possible to go: an unknown, exotic, fabled destination. My head is
full of it: the astounding mosques, the toothsome bread and the smiling
faces with gold-capped teeth. Yet when people ask what Uzbekistan is
like, the truthful answer is: I don't know where to start.
Uzbekistan is one of five republics in Central Asia, which used to be
part of the Soviet Union. It is bordered on the west and north by
Kazakhstan, on the east by Kyrgyzstan, on the southeast by Tajikistan,
and on the south by Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan includes the
Karakalpak Autonomous Republic, which occupies about 37 percent of
Uzbekistan's territory. Uzbekistan's land area totals about 447,400 sq km
(about 172,750 sq mi). Tashkent is the capital and chief industrial and
cultural center. Slightly more than 36 percent of the total population
live in urban areas.
Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, is the largest city in Central Asia
and the fourth largest in the former USSR (after Moscow, Saint
Petersburg, and Kyiv). Other major cities include Samarkand, Namangan,
Andijon, and Bukhara.
Types of Tourism in Uzbekistan
Tourism in Uzbekistan today is various types of tourist product for the
most exacting taste: historical and cultural tourism, ethnic tourism,
health tourism and MICE-Industry.
Historical and cultural tourism.
A classic direction which has been tested for decades and which the
guests of Uzbekistan got to like. The turquois domes of madrasah,
majolica of the mausoleums shining over the ages and finicking brickwork
of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva minarets are famous for their amazing
attention-getting capacity and oriental charm. They justly range among
the monuments of ancient India, China and Egypt. The unique decoration,
composition and engineering solutions of ancient masters who erected
these monumental structures boggle the imagination even of modern
experts. All the travelers become much richer after a trip, because they
take forever with them … thousands of digital images of hundreds
architectural gems of Uzbekistan.
Ethnic tourism.
Modern hotels, restaurants, cinema theaters are often hard to distinguish
one from another. Waking up in a hotel room you will not be able to
understand at once: is it Canberra or Bern? Quite a different story, if
you fall asleep under a shanyrak – a round grid in the dome of nomadic
yurt– in the great spaces of steppes after supper smelling with smoke,
under the stars sized of a peach. That is why more and more our guests
take the opportunity to spend several nights in family guest houses and
live in a yurt. The yurt interior design has not undergone much
transformation from the time when it was described by Herodotus two and a
half thousand years ago. The yurt gives coolness in heat and warm, in
cold. Ethnic tourism provides an opportunity to experience the every day
life, culture and world view of the Uzbeks, watch a working process of
the local craftsmen, and participate in cooking process of national food.
The quintessence of the Uzbek ethnos is various ethnographic and culinary
festivals, arts and crafts fairs held from spring to autumn and bringing
together dozens of thousands people from all over the world, wishing to
get familiar with cultural diversity of the Uzbek people.
Adventure tourism.
Among modern tourists there are a considerable part of people who thinks
it dull just to follow a guide from monument to monument. For such
tourists, Uzbekistan has many attractive offers and interesting sites:
Chimgan Mountains and Charvak Reservoir, located as near as 80 km from
Tashkent, Nurata Mountains, the Kyzylkum desert, Lake Aydarkul, and
certainly, the Aral Sea together with the Ustyurt plateau. For lovers of
active style of life it is quite a tourist paradise here: mountain
hiking, rafting on rapid mountain rivers, jeep-safari, fishing and
hunting, and in winter time, ski mountaineering and for the most valiant,
Heli Ski tours.
Ecological tourism.
Do you know that on the planet, there are only few cities with population
of two-three millions and stars visible at night? Tashkent ranks among
such cities with the clear sky. This is due to the switching of a
considerable part of motor transport to gas and the vicinity of
mountains. Not to put too fine a point on it, located just an hour’s
drive from the mountains, Tashkent has water from mountain rivers, rising
in the glaciers, running from the faucets. Small wonder that many tourist
routes in Uzbekistan pass near reserves and national parks with preserved
primeval nature, inhabited with wild animals and birds, entered in the
Red Book of Uzbekistan: bears, leopards, snow leopards, Persian gazelles,
markhoors and argalis, pheasants and golden eagles
Health tourism.
Curative tours to Uzbek mountain-climatic health resorts located in
picturesque sites are becoming more and more popular. One of them - a
health resort in the territory of the Zaamin Reserve is found at the
height of 2,000 m above sea level. A unique health resort in the very
entrails of the Khujaikon salt cave is functioning in the ridge of
Kugitantau, Surkhandarya region. Uzbekistan offers a whole range of
climatic and balneal health resorts with thermal, chloride-hydrocarbonate-sodiun
water both for drinking treatment, and therapy tank and showers.
Sulphated mud, brought from Lake Balykly, Jizak region, is also
successfully used for treatment.
MICE-industry.
A successful combination of the developed modern infrastructure and
availability of objects attractive for tourism made Uzbekistan, Tashkent
and Samarkand, in particular, favorite places to host international and
regional events of interstate, transnational and sporting organizations.
Nowadays Uzbekistan actively develops the МICE-industry (MICE - meeting,
incentive, conference, events), which already became an integral part of
tourism in modern world. Many companies and enterprises more and more
often use these services to hold corporate events. They may be incentive
tours, corporate holiday, meeting, conference, business lunch,
unforgettable excursions or recreational night programs in lovely corners
all over Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan Travel &
Tourism Guide
 Why
Visit Uzbekistan?
Practical
tips for Traveling to Uzbekistan
Top Tourist Attractions of Uzbekistan
10 things to do in Uzbekistan
General Information of
Uzbekistan
History of
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan and the Great Silk Road
Art Galleries, Craft Centers and Museums
of Uzbekistan
Festivals of Uzbekistan
Uzbek Food Festival of Taste
People of
Uzbekistan
Culture of
Uzbekistan
Weather & Climate of
Uzbekistan
Traditional Uzbek Souvenirs
Uzbekistan Visa Requirements
Uzbekistan Visa Information
Uzbekistan Satellite View & Map
Uzbekistan Tour Packages
7
Days Three Star Hotel
7
Days Four Star Hotel
7
Days Five Star Hotel
10
Days Uzbekistan
Packages
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