Fergana Valley Crafts

Much of what is sold as Uzbek craft in Samarkand and Bukhara is made here, on the far side of the Kamchik pass. The blue and turquoise ceramics come from Rishtan. The ikat silk, its threads dyed before they are woven, comes from Margilan. This journey goes to the source: three days in the valley, in workshops where the same families have worked for generations, with time to sit and watch rather than to pass through.

The valley asks for patience and repays it. In Rishtan the potter shows you the wheel, the glaze made from plant ash, and the kiln that gives the blue its depth. In Margilan the silk is a longer story, from cocoon to thread to the binding and dyeing of the warp before a single line is woven. Your private guide knows the makers by name, and the visits are timed so that the workshops are at work rather than waiting for you. Kokand, on the first day, sets the scene: the palace of the last khan and the quiet of the Juma mosque.

Two nights are enough to see the work properly and to buy well. A car and driver stay with you throughout, and the train brings you back to Tashkent on the third afternoon. The journey sits neatly before or after the Silk Road cities. If you would like to go deeper into the valley, your travel designer can add a day.