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Local dishes to try in Bukhara

1. 1🍚

   Plov

   Rice slow-cooked with lamb, carrots and oil — Uzbekistan's national dish. The Bukhara version often runs softer and sweet-savoury, with chickpeas and raisins. Found all over the city.

   📍 National rice dish
2. 2🌿

   Bakhsh

   Bukhara's famous green plov, coloured by fresh cilantro, dill and spring onion and cooked with rice and meat. A regional speciality you rarely find elsewhere — worth seeking out once.

   📍 Local green plov
3. 3🍢

   Shashlik

   Charcoal-grilled skewers of lamb, beef, chicken or minced kofta, served with bread, fresh herbs and an achichuk tomato-and-onion salad. On the menu at almost every eatery.

   📍 Grilled skewers
4. 4🥖

   Obi Non

   Thick round bread baked in a clay oven, stamped in the centre and sprinkled with sesame or nigella seeds. Fragrant and filling, it comes with every meal — cheap and sold at every bazaar.

   📍 Round bread
5. 5🥟

   Samsa

   Flaky pastry baked in a clay oven, filled with minced lamb, onion and sometimes pumpkin. Crisp outside, soft inside — a favourite snack while sightseeing, best eaten hot.

   📍 Baked meat pastry
6. 6🥗

   Achichuk

   A simple salad of thinly sliced tomato, red onion, chilli and herbs, lightly dressed. Served alongside plov and shashlik to cut the richness — refreshing and ever-present.

   📍 Fresh side salad

1. 1🕌

   Po-i-Kalyan Complex

   Bukhara's centrepiece: the 47-metre Kalyan Minaret built in 1127 (spared even by Genghis Khan), the vast Kalyan Mosque, and the Mir-i-Arab Madrasa with its two striking blue domes. Best light is early morning or late afternoon.

   📍 Top landmark
2. 2🏰

   Ark Fortress

   A massive earthen citadel that served as the rulers' residence for centuries, with foundations dating back to around the 5th century. Inside, museums tell the city's story; climb up for views over the old walls.

   📍 Ancient citadel
3. 3🫖

   Lyabi-Hauz

   A square built around a 1620 pool, framed by the Nadir Divan-Begi Madrasa and centuries-old mulberry trees. The city's favourite spot for tea — lively in the evenings with live music and a relaxed crowd.

   📍 Pool-side square
4. 4🪙

   Trading Domes

   The covered domes of Toki Zargaron (jewellers), Toki Sarrafon (former money changers) and Toki Telpak Furushon (hat sellers) still trade today — silk, carpets, silver and souvenirs, with prices open to bargaining.

   📍 Craft bazaars
5. 5🔵

   Chor Minor

   A former madrasa gatehouse topped by four blue-domed towers, each designed a little differently — the name means 'four minarets'. Tucked down a quiet lane, small but one of Bukhara's most photographed icons.

   📍 Four towers
6. 6⬜

   Samanid Mausoleum

   A cube-shaped brick tomb completed around 905, one of Bukhara's oldest and most beautiful buildings. Its intricate brickwork looks almost woven; it holds Ismail Samani, founder of the Samanid dynasty.

   📍 Thousand-year masonry
7. 7👑

   Sitorai Mokhi-Khosa Palace

   The summer residence of Bukhara's last emirs, just outside town, blending Islamic with Russian and European styles. Inside is a museum of court textiles, embroidery and everyday objects.

   📍 Summer palace
8. 8🕯️

   Magoki-Attori Mosque

   One of the city's oldest structures, built over a former Zoroastrian temple, revealing layers of Bukhara's pre-Islamic and Islamic past. It now houses a carpet museum.

   📍 Pre-Islamic layers