Uzbekistan
When
April to June | Sept to Oct
Price
From 2 000€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
5 nights
Ideal length
The Fergana Valley, in eastern Uzbekistan and cut off from the rest of the country by a mountain range, remains largely off the classic Samarkand and Khiva circuits despite exceptional craft traditions. Its Rishtan ceramic workshops, active for over eight centuries, and its Marghilan silkworm farms, carry on skills passed down through generations in a valley nicknamed the "garden of Uzbekistan" for the fertility of its apricot orchards.
Rishtan, a small town in the Fergana Valley, has for over eight centuries produced ceramics instantly recognisable by their blue-green glaze called ishkor, obtained from local plant ash according to a recipe kept secret by families of potters. Family workshops, passed down from father to son for generations, open their doors to visitors to observe wheel-throwing, freehand painting, and firing in traditional kilns dug into the earth.
Marghilan, one of Uzbekistan's oldest cities, remains an active centre of ikat silk production, a resist-dyeing technique where threads are dyed before weaving to create characteristic blurred patterns. The Yodgorlik factory, one of the last still producing silk entirely by hand, reveals the whole process from silkworm rearing to weaving on wooden looms, a craft that once made the city's fortune on the Silk Road.
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A Potter's Guesthouse in Rishtan
A guesthouse adjoining the workshop of a Rishtan family of potters, a traditional inner courtyard, an optional introduction to wheel-throwing on request.
A Marghilan Boutique Hotel
A boutique hotel housed in a renovated merchant residence in Marghilan, within walking distance of the Yodgorlik silk factory and the local bazaar.
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