The most typically Uzbek souvenir you can pick up is a hat. If you buy one in Shakrisabz, it shouldn't cost you more than a dollar.

Use this Uzbekistan Shopping Guide for tips on how best to shop and what to buy whilst on your Uzbekistan holiday. Whilst shopping, experiencing the local food and cuisine in Uzbekistan is a great way to relax and unwind. You can see what the local Uzbekistan shopping scene is like in Samarkand and Tashkent, as well as some suggestions on places to grab a bargain!

Uzbekistan Shopping Guide

Uzbekistan's colourful and fascinating bazaars are full of locals shopping for food, household items and clothes. If you'd like to capture the essence of the typical Uzbek lifestyle, the bazaars with their sounds, smells and flavours are the places to visit. You can shop here for spices, dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit and bread.

The craftsmen of Uzbekistan have many skills including engraving on copper, wood and plaster-based material. They excel in the arts of making jewellery; carpet weaving; ceramics; ornamental embroidery, gold embroidery; decorative currying of tanned leather; spinning silk; making decorative braids; inlay work on musical instruments; painting on papier-mache; the creation of decorative boxes to hold locally grown tobacco; basket weaving; and making objects from wood such as cradles, chests and much more.

Embroidery

Suzane is the name given to the embroidered wall hangings of Uzbekistan, but also refers to a certain type of traditional embroidery that appears on household items such as cushion covers as well as on garments. You will find that each place has its own patterns and styles of suzane. For instance, in Bukhara, the background on which the embroidery is done is cream, while in other places, the backgrounds may be differently coloured.

Ceramics

If you like collecting decorative ceramics, you will love Uzbekistan. Handmade ceramics have a long history in Uzbekistan. Apart from the beautiful glazed tiles that embellish the mosques and madrasas, you'll find ceramic pots, bowls, plates and all sorts of vessels. As with embroidery, different places have their own unique styles, but blue, green and white ceramic ware can be found all over the country and also in other parts of Central Asia.

You can choose from a wide range of ceramic items: traditional lamps (chirok) adorned with lovely blue and ultramarine patterns; and in Samarkhand -- endearing statuettes of the folklore character Nasreddin on his donkey, much loved by the Uzbeks; caravans of miniature camels; and candle-holders shaped as fantastic dragons. Collectors from round the world have long been drawn by Uzbekistan's famous blue ceramics made by master craftsmen in the Ferghana Valley.

Tea and Spices

If you are serious about spices, Uzbekistan is the right place for you. You'll find spices and various types of tea in markets across the country. The brilliant colours and the aromas of spices fill the bazaars. In Tashkent, head to the Eski Juva for a feast of spices. In Bukhara's Money Changer's bazaar, a shop specialising in spices and tea offers delicious spiced tea. The shop also has pretty little gourd spice jars, and the wooden handled metal stamps that are used to make the designs on Uzbek bread. What's more, spices are cheap in Uzbekistan.

Metal work

In the Museum of the Blacksmith's Art in Bukhara, you can actually buy some of the fascinating knives and blades on display. The forge here has been manned by generations of the same family who have mastered the art of blade making. You can find scissors shaped like storks, with blades sharp enough to slice through almost anything. You could pick up some ewers, jugs, trays and plates made of metal.

The national knife of Uzbekistan - the pichok - crafted by a Chust or Kokand blacksmith will make a wonderful addition for your collection.

The craftsmanship of the metal engravers of Bukhara is known for its elegance and intricacy. You can find brass and copper trays engraved with images of the architectural monuments of "Holy Bukhara" as well as decorative motifs.

Silk

Uzbek silks in beautiful Ikat hand weaves are a must-have. However, be prepared to shell out quite a bit of cash for these as the weaving process involved is highly sophisticated. Some of the silks you can find here are the semi-silk fabric bekasa, the popular handmade abr-silk made from filoselle, semi-silk adras and plain silk shoi. There's also the world famous khan-atlas blazing with colour, or in an exquisite black and white pattern streaked with shining veins of blue or green.

Carpets

The weavers of Uzbekistan make fabulous pileless carpets: Kokand striped gadjari and Shakhrisabz arabi carpets decorated with geometrical patterns.

Skull caps

Part of the national costume of the Uzbeks is the skull cap called the tyubeteika. Skull caps for men (chust) are usually made from black sateen and have four white cayenne motifs, while the women's version (duppi) sports bright embroidery.

Women's Jewellery

The jewellers of Tashkent, Samarkhand and Bukhara are known for their fine work. There are the traditional earrings kashgar-boldak, domed earrings with chiming pendants, as well as bracelets and rings studded with semi-precious stones such as pearls, rubies, turquoise and carnelian.

Wood Work

Carving

It is said that Uzbek wood carving is unparalleled. On offer are wall panels, caskets and boxes covered with intricate engraved designs, and the little traditionally Uzbek table (khantakhta) with a hexahedral or octahedral top made of plane, walnut or beech wood. The most beautiful of these carvings is a stand for the Koran (laukh), crafted by Uzbek master craftsmen.

Painting

The exquisite floriated design in tempera or oils, known as islimi, adorns powder-cases, pencil-boxes, caskets and little khantakhta tables. Plotline paintings embellish the leather covers of souvenir tambourines (doiras). If you like Asian music, pick up a miniature Uzbek stringed musical instrument like the dutar, rubab or tanbur. These come with beautiful pearl patterns.