Turkmenistan to the west, Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the north-east and Tajikistan to the east and has a colourful and varied countryside. The north-western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan is bounded by the Aral Sea and the sparsely populated Ustyurt Plateau with its vast cotton fields. The official language is Uzbek, a Turkic tongue closely related to Kazak and Kyrgyz. There is a small Russian-speaking minority and Uygur minority.
Many people involved with tourism speak English.
The Government has stated its intention to change the Cyrillic script to the Latin. The summers are warm to hot but the heat is made more bearable by the low humidity. The winters are cold but generally dry and sunny over most of the region.