Urgench Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Shared taxi is the favoured way across the Kyzylkum desert to Bukhara and beyond. Regular shared taxis and a few morning marshrutkas leave from a stand near the bus station (marshrutka/taxi per seat 12, 000/20, 000S, 4½ hours). Less frequent are shared taxis to Tashkent (per seat 35, 000S, 12 hours), but you can always transfer in Bukhara – also the preferred method for getting to Samarkand.

The bus station (227 57 25; Al-Khorezmi), just north of the train station, has an afternoon bus to Bukhara (5000S, eight hours), an evening bus to Samarkand (7500S, 13 hours) and a morning bus to Tashkent (12, 000S, 19 hours) via Bukhara and Samarkand. There are usually a few private buses heading east as well. There are a few buses per day to Nukus (2500S, 2¼ hours), as well as shared taxis that are more frequent in the morning (per seat 8000S, 1½ hours). If nothing’s going to Nukus, go to Beruni and change there.

Shared taxis and marshrutkas to Khiva leave from a lot just south of the bazaar (marshrutka/taxi per seat 500/800S).

Train

From the train station(Al-Khorezmi), there’s a twice-weekly passenger train to Tashkent (platskartnyy 17, 000S, 20 hours) via Zarafshan, Navoi and Samarkand. This train no longer goes through Turkmenistan.

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Air

Uzbekistan Airways has two or three flights daily to Tashkent (one way US$55).

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