Uzbekistan: Amirsoy

Amirsoy Mountain Resort feels a little unexpected in Uzbekistan — a modern ski and mountain resort tucked into the western Tian Shan mountains about an hour from Tashkent. Opened in 2019, it was designed as the country's first world-class, all-season mountain resort, with gondolas, ski slopes, hiking trails, and alpine-style chalets set against a backdrop of rugged peaks.

What makes Amirsoy interesting is the contrast. After days spent exploring Silk Road cities, Soviet architecture, and ancient monuments, you suddenly find yourself riding a modern gondola over mountain ridges that feel more like the Alps than Central Asia. In winter it's a ski destination; in summer it's popular for hiking, mountain views, and escaping the heat of Tashkent.  Or so the marketing says.

To me, I've been to the Swiss Alps, having skied in Austria, Switzerland and even in Colorado in USA... and although Amirsoy did feel like a contrast to Uzbekistan, it still felt foreign and not like a world-class ski resort.  It felt like it was trying to be a world-class ski resort.  At the top of the mountain, for example, they didn't shovel out all the build-up of snow, so much of the viewing platforms were inaccessible bc they were covered in mounds of snow.  We kept waiting for a chair lift to fall from the sky or something.  

The mountains were beautiful though.  And it was cool to be smack in the middle and be able to see the mountains in both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan all from the same place!