Khiva

Khiva needs 1 day: walking through Itchan Kala, the inner walled city, is practically the only plan, and it's enough because the entire old town -mosques, madrasas and mud-and-tile palaces- is an open-air museum. April-June and September-October are best. It's inexpensive by international standards. It was the last caravan stop before crossing the Karakum Desert toward Persia, and its old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, is one of the best-preserved examples of a Central Asian Islamic city.