Ashgabat

Turkmenbashi Cableway
Kopet Dag
1000M
9am to 10pm
south of the National Museum

Cable car, opened in 2006, climbing up to 1290 meters, offering spectacular views over the city with the desert in the background

Tolkuchka Bazaar
Satt, Sun 8am to 2pm
8 km north of Ashgabad, past the airport

one of Central Asia's most colourful bazaars,

National Museum
Archabil sayoli 30
454954
US$10, camerra US$1
9am to 5pm
in front of the Kopet Dag

Hall 1 is dedicated to post-independence Turkmenistan, Hall 2 upstairs has a focus on ancient history with exhibits from Bronze Age sites and artefacts from Margiana. Halls 3 shows artefacts found at the Parthian site of Nisa. In Hall 4 a model of the medieval Merv, dioramas from Konye Urgench and Anau and the beautiful Merv vase are exhibited. Hall 5 and 6 display collections of weapons, musical instruments, silver jewellry and female dress. In Hall 7 downstairs a 20 m x 13 m carpet is exhibited.

Museum of Fine Arts
351566
US$ 10
Wed to Mon 9am to 6pm
west of the Palace of Justice

The Central Hall has a large picture of President Niyazov Abundance of the Harvest. In the Independence Hall the heroic figures of the nation Oguz Han, Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan and the poet Seydi are shown. The museum also contains a reconstruction of the dragen freeze of the mosque of Arnau and exhibitions of Turkmen paitings before and after 1950. The first floor is devoted to Russian paintings from the 19th century and to European paintings, including minor works by Tiepolo and Poussin.

Turkmen Carpet Museum
5 Georogly köcesi
398879
12000M
Mon to Fri 10am to 1pm., 2 to 6 pm,

The museum houses antique carpets of the 18th and 19th centuries and modern carpets from all parts of the country. There is a nearly 200 square meters carpet which was intended as curtain of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but proved too heavy. The pride of the museum is the largest hand-woven carpet in the world, as certified by the Guiness Book of Records. It covers 300 square meters and was woven by 40 carpet makers on the ocasion of the 10th annoversary of Turkmenistan's independence.

Turkmenistan Independence Park
take bus 16 or 34 from the city center

The Park covers an area 2 km long and 1 km wide. It contains monuments of famous people of Turkmen history: the founder of the Seljuk dynastySeljuk Beg, the founder of the Turkmen people Oguz Han, the Turkmen poet Magtymguly, the Seljuk leader Sultan Sanjar, the Turkmen warrior Georoglythe Seljuk rulers Alp Arslan and Malik Shah, the 18th century leader of the Ahal Tekkes Keymir Kor, the poets Zelilli and Sydi, the leader of the White Sheep confederation Uzyn Hasan, the father of the founder of the Ottoman Empire Ertogul Gazy, the Turkmen commander and poet Bairam Han, the poets Molianepes and Mataji, the Turkmen leader Gara Yusup, the Seljuk ruler Togrul Beg, the spiritual leader Gorkut Ata and the poet Kemine.

Museum of Turkmen National Values
451954
US$ 10, 25000M for photographs
9am to 12,30 pm, 2 to 5,30 pm, daily

In the first floor, the Museum houses displays of silver jewellery for women and horses, and replicas of the golden bull- and wolf-head sculptures from Altyn Depe.