28 days too many.

Similar to Almaty, Airbnb still presents good value in Tashkent, but at prices which are not entirely reflective of day-to-day costs. Expect to spend around £1,000 PCM for a quality one-bed apartment in a well-connected, central area of the city.

There appears to be a significant number of new condo units popping up all across the city, so I would expect the quantity and quality of building stock on Airbnb to increase in the coming years.

Even with summer temperatures routinely exceeding 40°C, swimming pools didn't seem to feature as part of the building stock, likewise with gyms.

Assuming you are heeding my advice to spend only a couple of days in the city, opt for a hotel.

For a city that lacks some of the more modern amenities you may expect, Tashkent has got a more than acceptable number of coworking spaces dotted across the city. I would look no further than the Ground Zero chain which I've written about in depth further below.

If you are staying close to the train station, then HUB Coworking may also be worth checking out. I had a brief walk around there when I arrived in the city but it was too far a distance away from where I was staying.

Coffee shops are generally open later into the evening and rarely seem to reach anything near capacity, so can make for useful stopgap options if just passing through the city. Dosan 2 has a calm, relaxed atmosphere with some desks suitable for working, and the SOCIALS chain also has a number of outlets that make for a fine space for a few hours.

Prices in Tashkent mirror what you're likely to find elsewhere in the region. Expect significantly cheaper costs on day-to-day goods, particularly when it comes to eating out.

In a mid-range restaurant like 'Mar mar sharq taomlari', you can expect to pick up shashlik meat skewers for under 20,000 SOM apiece (£1.20), and large salads for 40,000 SOM (£2.50). A generous, hearty portion of plov can generally be found across the city for under 50,000 SOM (£3).

Drinks and pastry items from coffee shops are generally under half the price of what you'd expect to pay in a major European city, and even though conventional pubs are sparsely found, they have competitive prices.

I've given it a lower rating on value compared to Almaty, however, as whilst in raw costs it may in fact be cheaper, I didn't find there were as many places where you'd be compelled to spend your cash.

The cost of taxis is almost concerningly low and reflects the significantly reduced purchasing power parity reality for many locals earning in SOM. A 20-minute Yandex journey from the airport to my Airbnb cost around £1.50, placing it below what you might find even in South-East Asia.

For a city of 3 million people, Tashkent feels almost incomprehensibly unengaging.

In fact, I would go as far as rating it as the least dynamic place I've ever visited with direct regard to its size. It contains all the markers of a big city: solid infrastructure, a national hub of industry, modern skyscrapers, but it lacks any core commercial centres that draw you in. This is in part due to the extensive rebuilding after the 1966 earthquake.

There is no real city centre to speak of. The core of the geographic centre close to Amir Timur Square is an array of beautifully landscaped gardens and boulevards, which almost turn into ghost towns during the evenings.

Along Shakhrisabz Street, and particularly close to Ming O'rik metro station, you have areas which faintly feel like they mirror the intensity of a conventional city, but in reality it's nothing more than a busy road with some shops on either side.

Bars are both rare and spread thinly throughout the city, meaning there's no real nightlife hub where you'll find concentrated activity, especially at weekends.

Even though on paper Tashkent resembles much more of a city than either Bishkek or Almaty, for the first two weeks I found it almost unimaginably dull, to the extent where, if it were not for having an excellent Airbnb and coworking space, I may have even moved on early.

Tashkent carries all the baggage of a major city in terms of its infrastructure, population and size, but with none of the excitement or energy that they generally facilitate. At the very least, I generally always find one neighbourhood that truly resonates with me and I'll enjoy routinely walking around on foot or daydreaming about whether I could consider permanently living there, but this was a notable absence on this trip.

In ways it reminded me of Kuala Lumpur, where there feels an intentional effort to shift the city's nighttime focus away from a western-style entertainment culture based around alcohol and late-night venues, and into something more focused on family-friendly spaces.

Tashkent operates on Uzbekistan Time, which is GMT+5 throughout the year, as the country does not observe daylight saving time, making visiting during the summer months marginally better for maintaining alignment with Europe.

If you are maintaining hours with European colleagues, this means a later start to your working day. I would generally start around 10:00 and finish up at some point in the early evening.

Personally, I found this a great structure as you could enjoy a leisurely morning heading to the gym or for a coffee, whilst still having enough time to make the most of your evening without altering your schedule as significantly as somewhere like Thailand.

The sun sets later in the evening compared to more easterly Almaty, giving you a better balance in the evenings to explore the outdoors.