Tashkent City Park

For a look at where Uzbekistan is heading, walk through Tashkent City, the new business district built on the western edge of the centre over the last decade. Glass towers, international hotels, apartment blocks and the Tashkent City Mall rise around a park that has quickly become one of the city's favourite places to spend an evening.

Tashkent City Park is laid out around an artificial lake, with lawns, shaded paths, bridges, children's play areas and cafés along the water. Its fountains are the main event after dark, when coloured lights play across the jets and the towers behind them light up floor by floor. Entry is free, and on summer evenings the park fills with families, students and couples until late.

A different side of Tashkent

There is no history to tick off here, and that is the point. After the madrasahs of the old town and the Soviet modernism of the centre, Tashkent City shows the ambitions of the 21st-century capital: international brands, rooftop restaurants and a skyline that changes every year. Some residents are unconvinced by the scale of the project, which replaced older neighbourhoods, and it is worth asking a local guide what stood here before.

Nearby

• Tashkent City Mall, with around 250 shops, restaurants and a cinema, is useful for a SIM card, a pharmacy or a rainy afternoon.
• Magic City, a free-to-enter family park about a kilometre to the south, with themed streets, a fairy-tale castle on a lake and a musical fountain in the evening, is a good choice with children.
• The Alisher Navoi National Park and the Palace of Peoples' Friendship lie a short taxi ride to the south-west.

Visiting

Come after sunset, ideally on a warm evening from April to October, and combine the park with dinner in the district. It is a short taxi ride from Amir Timur Square, or about 15 to 20 minutes on foot along Navoi street; the nearest metro stations are Paxtakor and Alisher Navoiy. The park is safe and well lit late into the evening.