The city’s top sight is the citadel, the reconstructed corner of which is open to visitors. The dazzling highlight is a reconstructed Registan, which has much of the grandeur of the Samarkand version, even if it's virtually new.
From the top of the 10th-century ramparts, the disintegrating baked-earth walls suggest hints of the seven gates and 6km of fortifications that were rebuilt in the 13th century and which mark the site of Alexander the Great’s original settlement. The citadel's military history continued into recent times when, in 1997, 300 people died in battles between Uzbek warlords and government troops.
In the rebuilt eastern wall are the Historical Museum of Sughd Province and the Museum of Archaeology & Fortifications.
On a Monday when the citadel is officially closed, you can have it all to yourself if you've booked a bed at Qal'ai Khujand Hostel, which is within the walls and a contender for the world's best hostel. A few quality souvenir shops are dotted in and around the citadel museums and along the adjacent rose gardens of Komil Khojandi Park.