Khiva

The walled city of Khiva is made up of mud-brick buildings and has over 50 historic monuments meaning you will need a few days to explore the city. Its remoteness makes this desert khanate little-visited by the majority of tourists. Khiva is a picture postcard place, unique in the Islamic world for its intact historic center.

The unfinished Kalta Minor Minaret is a squat blue tower in the centre of the town, decorated with blue ceramic tiles, a staple of the city, and connected to the Mohammed Amin Khan Madrasa. Other sites include the Juma Mosque featuring ornately carved wooden pillars, the Pakhlavan Makhmud Mausoleum with its tiled dome and the Islam Khodja Complex.

Those with more appetite for the unusual can take a side trip to the remains of the Aral Sea. Rusty boats lie stranded in the desert with no shore in sight. The man-made catastrophe of the vanished Aral Sea is a reminder of the ongoing destruction of human habitat for economic gain.