Isfara

Isfara sits at the edge of the Fergana valley in the far north, in country given over to apricots: the orchards around the town supply much of the country's dried fruit and the harvest in summer fills the roadsides with trays. At Chorku nearby stands the Hazrati Shoh mausoleum, a fifteenth-century timber building with carved wooden columns, one of the few surviving wooden structures of its age in Central Asia.

What you actually see

• The Hazrati Shoh mausoleum - a fifteenth-century carved timber building at Chorku.
• The apricot orchards - the district's crop, dried and sold across the country.
• The carved columns - the woodwork that makes the mausoleum unusual.
• The Fergana edge - the town at the margin of the great valley.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the most comfortable. Apricot harvest runs through the summer. Summer heat in Fergana is severe.

Honest expectations

The mausoleum is at Chorku outside the town and needs transport. Opening is irregular. Summer heat here is heavy and the town is workaday.

Nearby

Khujand is west, and Istaravshan is southwest.