Must See Tajikistan - Khojand

Secure behind the Fan Mountains, Khojand has managed to escape the ravages of Tajikistan's civil war, and has always been safe for travel. It remains the wealthiest part of the country, producing two-thirds of the country's industrial output.

It's a comfortable, relaxed city with few spectacular attractions, but its pleasant river and grassy parks. Khojand's Panchshanbe Bazar is a typical Central Asian market that bombards with sights, sounds and smells. The modest mosque, medrassa and mausoleum of Sheikh Massal ad-Din are worth a look.

Khojand is the capital of northern Tajikistan and the second largest city in the country. It was founded by Alexander the Great more than 2300 years ago. Commanding the entrance to the Ferghana Valley, Khojand enjoyed great prosperity and its riches spawned palaces, grand mosques and a citadel, before the Mongols steamrollered the city into oblivion in the early 13th century. A less spectacular Khojand was rebuilt and unobtrusively weathered the travails of Central Asian history, only to find itself victim to Soviet gerrymandering in 1929 when it was scooped out of the rest of the Ferghana Valley and plonked in the Tajik SSR; the rest of the valley was incorporated into the Uzbek SSR.