Tajikistan
The city’s top sight is the citadel, the reconstructed corner of which is open to visitors. From the top of the 10th-century ramparts, the disintegrating…
Must-see attractions in Tajikistan
Tajikistan
The core of this great bazaar, reputedly the largest in Central Asia, is an unusually elegant, purpose-built hall (1964) with arched entrance portals and…
Dushanbe
Extensive Rudaki Park, with its beautiful canopy of mature trees, offers a series of pathways through flower gardens and alongside lakes and fountains…
Dushanbe
One of Dushanbe’s most impressive modern monuments, this statue celebrates the 10th-century founder of the Samanid dynasty. With an art-deco quality to…
Dushanbe
Sharing the same complex as the National Museum of Antiquities, this small museum houses an exquisite collection of traditional Tajikistan clothing …
The Pamir Highway
Destroyed by the Mongols, the sparse remnants of this fortified palace have been undergoing excavation since 1951 and now a fine reconstruction of the…
Historical Museum of Sughd Province
Tajikistan
Built within the reconstructed southeastern bastion of the city wall, this museum houses a fascinating set of modern marble mosaics depicting the life of…
Dushanbe
Pictured on the 20TJS banknote and just 30km west of Dushanbe, the remains of this 18th-century fort make for an interesting day trip from the capital…
Tajikistan
Shaded by ancient chinar (plane) trees, a pair of small but ornately stucco-fronted 17th-century tombs are set beside a fine old mosque with tapering…
The Pamir Highway
Mirrorlike lake Bulun-Kul (3737m) looks magnificent in the morning light, reflecting the mineral streaks of a low, multicoloured ridge opposite. The water…
Dushanbe
Beneath an impressive arc of blue mosaic stars, the nation's most revered poet, Rudaki, is honoured here at the heart of the central park named after him…
Tajikistan
This 12th-century fort is the most impressive of the Wakhan Valley's many tumbledown castle ruins, complete with multiple walls and round watchtowers. The…
Tajikistan
In the northwest of the country, 30km east of Penjikent, the Fannsky Gory or Fan Mountains are a beautiful range of sharp-peaked mountains, many snow…
Tajikistan
Measuring around 4km in length, this stunning lake (2195m), high in the Fan Mountains, is a spectacle not to be missed. Willows, feathery tamarisk and…
The Pamir Highway
With any luck, there will be enough light left in the day after any delays crossing the Shurabad Pass to enjoy the first glimpse of the raging Pyanj River…
The Pamir Highway
It’s hard to believe that Khorog’s Central Park was dug up to grow crops during the famine of the 1990s. It has since been renovated by the Aga Khan Trust…
The Pamir Highway
Perhaps the most appealing stretch of the A385 is between Rogak and Khostov (after the popular Yakhchi Hisor roadside springs). From this vantage point it…
Tajikistan
On a terrace above the banks of River Zerafshan, 1.5km southeast of today's Penjikent, the ruins of a major Sogdian town slowly bake to dust. Looking…
Tajikistan
Rock faces on the steep slopes above Langar are inscribed with over 6000 ancient petroglyphs. Climbing to see them is hard work in the high altitude and…
Dushanbe
Tajikistan's national museum is housed in an impressive modern building with an elliptical roof and giant atrium. The collection encompasses three main…
National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
Dushanbe
Looking almost as aged as some of the exhibits it houses, this dusty old museum, with its threadbare carpets and uneven floors, has a certain charm about…
The Pamir Highway
Soviet archaeologists apparently took shelter in the caves at Shakty (Шахты; 4200m) during a storm one night in 1958, only to awake the next morning to…
The Pamir Highway
At the entrance to the Shokh Dara Valley, 5km east of town, this arboretum encompasses a couple of hundred hectares of parkland and is claimed to be the…
Tajikistan
Some 500m off the main road in Yamg (Ямг) is the reconstructed house museum of Sufi mystic, astronomer and musician Mubarak Kadam Wakhani (1843–1903). One…
Dushanbe
Nurek Reservoir is 70km long and the world's second highest dam. Its remarkable opal-blue water, set within a pastoral landscape and edged with mountains,…
The Pamir Highway
Set within a traditional walled enclosure and now protected within an octagonal cover added in the 1990s, this is one of several authentic ancient Ismaili…
Dushanbe
Hidden within a private family compound behind unmarked green gates is a precious collection of antique musical instruments originating from across…
Tajikistan
In the northeast of the city, rising above low-level housing, this grassy, flat-topped hill once boasted a fine citadel. Stormed by Alexander the Great in…
Dushanbe
Built to commemorate 20 years of independence, the world's second tallest flagpole stands at 165m and is the centrepiece of Dushanbe's central ensemble of…
The Pamir Highway
Although salty, lake Kara-Kul is frozen and snow-covered until May but throughout the summer this huge lake is transformed into a beautiful, sky-blue…
Tajikistan
The old town is an intriguing maze of mudbrick lanes with water channels running along the centre of the thoroughfare. Houses are tantalisingly hidden…
Dushanbe
Crowning the fountain-filled thoroughfare outside the National Library, this national monument was built to commemorate Tajikistan's independence. Cast…
Dushanbe
With the best views over the city, this hilltop park makes a tranquil spot in which to enjoy a shaded stroll. The park encompasses a well-kept WWII…
The Pamir Highway
One of the most dramatic of the many high passes in the Pamirs, Ak-Baital Pass at 4655m is one of the highest passes along the whole of the Pamir Hwy…
Tajikistan
By the bridge, across the main road from the village jamoat khana (prayer house; easily recognisable by its colourful murals decorating the window frames)…
The Pamir Highway
Some 5km west of Khorog, a bridge linking Afghanistan with Tajikistan crosses the river at the point where the Gunt merges with the Pyanj. Every Saturday…
Tajikistan
This elegant single-storey museum, with its white Doric columns and fine floral display, assigns a room to its namesake, Abu Abdullah Rudaki (858–941),…
Dushanbe
The Shah Mansur Bazaar, known in English as the 'Green Bazaar', is the heartbeat of Dushanbe trade and a great place to gain a sense of local life in the…
Tajikistan
The 15th-century Abdullatif Sultan Medressa is also known as the Kök Gumbaz (Blue Dome) after its turquoise Timurid dome. Closed in Soviet times, the…
Mausoleum of Sheikh Massal ad-Din
Tajikistan
The final resting place of Sheikh Massal ad-Din, a 12th-century poet and ruler of Khojand, forms the central feature of the surrounding assembly of…
