Turkmenistan has a great touristic potential that is growing day by day. This is a fascinating land full of legends and its history. Here you will find a lot of different ancient monuments which are integral part of the rich history of this region. Ancient settlements, fortress walls, fascinating monuments of architecture rich with its historical beauty will appear in front of you. In its time the territory of modern Turkmen state gave a start to many great civilizations of the East...

The monuments of Turkmenistan that have remained up to now are a direct reflection of life in the East at the different stages of its existence. They reflect how great Timurid, Seljukid, Sasanid, khorezmshah dynasties were ruling. In different epochs of time towns here were centers of great and powerful state formations which were equipped by representatives of abovementioned great eastern dynasties according to they own preferences. As a matter of fact, the land of Turkmenistan is a quite “tangible” history of the ancient world including numerous monuments that you can see and touch only if you express your wish to personally visit this fascinating and historical place in the whole Middle Asian region. Moreover, it is also a history of people who many centuries ago would populate these lands, fight with each other for power and territory, migrate from place to place forming big tribes and then become settled craftsmen or landowners. Travelling here you can be exposed to exciting adventures. The most popular ancient towns of Turkmenistan are Kunya-Urgench, Nisa, Dehistan, Misrian, Merv, Yekedeshik, Serahs.

Ancient Kunya-Urgench is a wonderful place of ancient civilization of Khorezmshahs famous fro their achievements in architecture and crafts. Many Muslims come here for pilgrimage. This is also a famous touristic center. Earlier ancient town Urgench had been situated here, a capital of medieval state of Khorezm. Since then only few architectural monuments and separate structures have remained in whole; however, most monuments have still not been found and investigated, nevertheless, what is already revealed is amazing with its beauty and antiquity of emergence. It is assumed that Ancient Urgench (also known as Gurganch, Gurganj and Jurjaniya) had been existing for more that two thousand years beginning from the ancient times to late medieval times; in addition, its most developing period falls on 14th century.

Nisa is an ancient settlement located 18 km from the modern Ashgabat dated 1 thousand B.C. – 1 thousand A.D. The settlement consists of two fortresses – Old and New Nisa. The Old Nisa it its times was a tsarist residence in Parthia and the New Nisa was functioning as a capital of Parthia. In the time when Parthia existed, the Old Nisa was called in the honour of Mitridat I , a tsar who ordered to build this settlement. At that period it was a capital of the empire but later the capital was moved to Middle Asia. When Sasanid came, Nisa completely lost its power and the settlement was murdered and forgotten. A new stage in the history of Nisa begins when it became a part of Arab Khalifat. The settlement was again raised but it was already impossible to achieve that powerful status it had before. The beginning of the final fall down was in the 16th century and in the 20’s of the 19th century Nisa would represent only its ruins.

The ruins of Merv had been studied since 80’s of the 19th century and the deep study was conducted in 1946 by the archeological expedition of Ye. Masson. The oldest part of the town is represented by Erk-Kala settlement that existed already in the middle of the 1 thousand B.C. The settlement is surrounded by the adobe wall, in the middle there is a building on the cast platform. The prospective period of Merv belongs to 2 century B.C. At this time it would represent a town consisting from the citadel (Erk-Kala), towns (modern settlement Gyaur-Gala) with planning characterized by two main streets, with occasional in-block construction and defensive walls and a suburb also surrounded by the wall. In the 19th century the great town faced its final fall down and the center of the region was moved into Mari town which was located 30 km to the east.

Dehistan represents a clay arid plain in the south-west of Turkmenistan near the Caspian Sea. However, this place hasn’t always been such manless and unremarkable. Formerly at the time of its prosperity life would exist here, gardens would blossom, fields would be all green surrounded by lively livers. In the 3 thousand B.C. this territory was actively adopted by coming here landowners and in 3-6 centuries a lot of Turk tribes such as Saki, Massagets, Eftalits, were coming to oasis irrigated by the river Atrek. However, Dahi were leading the most powerful tribal union that created large secured base stations and settlements (Shadur-Kala, Ak-Gala).

Misrian – a settlement located on the territory of Dehistan and is its largest historical monument. We only have the ruins of this large settlement but even by studying them we can state that this place in its times was differed by its highest level of cultural development. The town consisted from shahristan (citadel), rabata (suburb) and surrounding from the sides densely populated blocks of craft people. Real size of the ancient town has not been clearly identified as not much data has been saved. In the 10-13 centuries the citadel was fenced by the powerful fortress wall which was protected by two rows of scouts. Misrian was a craft center.

Yekedeshik – a cave settlement which is mentioned in many Turkmen stories and legends. For instance, one of them says that caravans of camels in two rows could come into and out of the cave. Whether it’s true or not, we don’t know. It was only proved that the cave was formed inside of the hill and the inside constructions belong to 14-15 centuries.

Serahs in the past was a large trade station laying on the territory of the Great Silk Road between Nishapur and Merv. Serahs is situated in the center of the small oasis located in the upstream of the Tejen River. The first settlement appeared here in the middle of the first century B.C. and it was surrounded by a clay wall – now this place is called New Serahs. When Islam appeared, the town became one of the significant centers of trade routs and the mastery of local architectures and builders became popular in all the Central Asia.

All these towns are great architectural monuments which amaze people by their beauty and mysteriousness.

Beside ancient historical monuments Turkmenistan is famous by its new place of interest – touristic complex called Avaza.

The Avaza is a fascinating relaxation complex located on the territory ot Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan along the Caspian coast. Here you can see storey-hotels, that look like modern palaces, cottages for those who like home comfort, stadiums, golf-clubs, tennis courts, swimming pools, entertaining attractions, restaurants located in the sea and café in the style of eastern hospitality – this is a touristic paradise, the largest recreational zone where you would like to spend your time. All components of the Avaza complex are located close to the sea, famous desert and exotic mountains. But this Edem garden is still being built. You can already see many visitors coming from other countries staying in hotels, resting under sun, swimming in the pleasant water of the Caspian Sea, sunbathing, in other words, having a great time. And all these opportunities have been made available for people only in 3 years! The complex is expected to have been completed by 2020.

To sum up, Turkmenistan and all its touristic places of interest are looking forward to welcoming you and we hope that you will spend a great time here.