Turkmenistan

With its lavish marble palaces, gleaming gold domes and vast expanses of manicured parkland, Ashgabat (‘the city of love’ in Arabic) has reinvented itself as a showcase city for the newly independent republic and is definitely one of Central Asia's – if not the world's – strangest places. Built almost entirely off the receipts of Turkmenistan’s oil and gas revenues, the city’s transformation continues at break-neck speed, with whole neighbourhoods facing the wrecking ball in the name of progress, and gleaming white marble monoliths springing up overnight like mushrooms.

After the 1948 earthquake, Ashgabat was rebuilt in the Soviet style, but its modern incarnation is somewhere between Las Vegas and Pyongyang, with a mixture of Bellagio fountains, Stalinist ministries of state and national monuments. There are some decent restaurants and no shortage of quirky sights, making it a pleasant place to absorb Turkmenistan’s bizarre present before heading into the rest of the country to discover its fascinating past.

Konye-Urgench (from Persian ‘Old Urgench’) is a rural backwater with livestock wandering its chaotic, unpaved roads. Yet centuries ago this was the centre of the Islamic world, not the end of it. Today most of Old Urgench lies underground, but there is enough urban tissue to get an idea of its former glories. Its uniqueness was acknowledged in 2005 when Unesco named it a World Heritage Site.

The modern town is somewhat short on tourist facilities and the majority of travellers drop through overland on the way from Khiva or Nukus in Uzbekistan. You can also overnight in Dashoguz and fly in for the day.

One of Turkmenistan’s most unusual sights, the Darvaza Gas Craters are the result of Soviet-era gas exploration in the 1970s. The three craters are artificial. One has been set alight and blazes with an incredible strength that’s visible from miles away, while the other two contain bubbling mud and water. There have been rumours for years that the burning gas crater will be put out to enable gas exploration in the area, but it was still burning in 2017.

With bands of pink, red and yellow rock searing across the sides of steep canyon walls, Yangykala is a breathtaking sight and one of the most spectacular natural attractions in Turkmenistan. Just as alluring as the beautiful views is its solitary isolation in the desert; few Turkmen are aware of its existence. ᠎It’s possible to camp on the plateau above the canyon, although it can get windy there.

In its heyday it was known as Marv-i-shahjahan, ‘Merv – Queen of the World’, and it stood alongside Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo as one of the great cities of the Islamic world. A major centre of religious study and a linchpin on the Silk Road, its importance to the commerce and sophistication of Central Asia cannot be underestimated. Today, however, almost nothing of the metropolis remains, and you'll need to bring a fair chunk of imagination to get any sense of the place, which makes having a good guide essential, as well as your own transport to cover the large territory of the site.

Long before Merv raised its first tower, Bronze Age villages were assembling along the Murgab River in what is called the Margiana Oasis. The greatest of these ancient settlements, currently being excavated around Gonur Depe, has stunned the archaeological world for its vast area and complex layout.

The Royal Palace and necropolis are the most fascinating sites to visit.