Bukhara Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

All vehicular transport to Tashkent and Samarkand leaves from the North Bus Station, about 3km north of the centre. Here you’ll find plenty of private buses (Samarkand 3500S, five hours; Tashkent 7000S, 11 hours) and shared Nexias (Samarkand per seat 11, 000S, three hours; Tashkent 20, 000S, seven hours), plus a few marshrutkas. There are plenty of departures and everything leaves when full. Shared taxis to Navoi also depart from here (per seat 2500S, 45 minutes), or take a slower bus for 800S.

About 1.5km north of here is Karvon Bazaar, departure point for Urgench/Khiva. Shared taxis congregate in a lot on the less-crowded south end of the market. The going rate is 20, 000S per seat for Urgench (4½ hours). Drivers demand up to 5000S extra for Khiva; you’re better off transferring in Urgench. A few marshrutkas allegedly head to Urgench from this lot before noon (12, 000S). For buses to Urgench (5000S, eight hours), you have to wait out on the main road in front of the taxi stand and flag buses originating in Tashkent, which come through sporadically.

To get to the North Bus Station or Karvon Bazaar take public bus 2 or 21, or marshrutka 67 or 73, from the train station stop (site of the old train station, 2km east of the Lyabi-Hauz marshrutka stop).

The ‘Sharq’ bus station east of the centre has no useful buses. However, shared taxis depart from across the street to Qarshi (per seat 6000S, 1½ hours), Shakhrisabz (12, 000S, four hours), Termiz (20, 000S, six hours) and Denau on the Tajik border (25, 000S, six hours).

Train

The Sharq high-speed train zips from Kagan to Tashkent every morning at 7.20am (2nd class/1st class 11, 000/15, 000S, 7½ hours) via Samarkand (5700/9200S, 3½ hours). Unless you have a desire to watch Russian action movies and videos on a blaring TV, opt for 2nd class, where the nuisance is limited to blaring Russian pop.

A slower passenger train rumbles to Tashkent nightly at 6.40pm (platskartny 11, 000S, 12½ hours). It also goes through Samarkand (platskartny 7500S, six hours). A final option to Samarkand is the daily ‘suburban’ train (1200S, six hours). The trains from Tashkent to Nukus, Kungrad and Urgench go via Navoi, not Bukhara. Lastly, there’s a daily suburban train to Qarshi (850S, 3½ hours).

A thrice weekly overnight Kagan–Urgench train (12 hours) was due to launch in the second half of 2007.

To get to Kagan take marshrutka 68 from the Lyabi-Hauz stop (300S, 25 minutes). There is an Air & Rail Ticketing Office (224 64 86; Naqshband) right across from Lyabi-Hauz.

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Air

Uzbekistan Airways (233 50 60; Navoi 15), about 1km southeast of the town centre, has flights from Bukhara to Tashkent (US$36, 1½ hours, at least daily except Saturday).

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