Turkmenistan

The central public square of Ashgabat, built under President Saparmurat Niyazov in the 1990s; features the 75-metre Arch of Neutrality, the Presidential Palace and fountains arranged on a monumental white marble axis.

A burning natural gas field collapsed into a cavern in the Karakum Desert, 260 km north of Ashgabat, known as the Door to Hell; ignited by Soviet geologists in 1971 and still burning.

A memorial complex in southwestern Ashgabat honouring victims of the Battle of Geok Tepe (1881), World War II and the catastrophic 1948 Ashgabat earthquake; features a rotunda with an eternal flame and a rotating gold monument.

A large underground lake inside a natural limestone cave near Bäherden in the Kopet Dag foothills; the largest underground lake in the Commonwealth of Independent States, with mineral-rich turquoise water at 33–37 °C.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancient Silk Road oasis city near modern Mary, Turkmenistan; one of the oldest and most continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia, ruled by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and Timurids.

An ancient Parthian settlement and UNESCO World Heritage Site 18 km west of central Ashgabat, reputedly the first seat of the Arsacid Empire and the royal residence of Parthian kings.