Tashkent Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus & shared taxi

Private buses, marshrutkas and shared taxis to Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench leave from a lot on Halqlar Dustigli kocahsi, about 7km southwest of Navoi Park near Sobir Rahimov metro. The main lot for buses and other vehicles to Termiz and Qarshi is in the huge private bus yard behind the Ippodrom Bazaar, 3km beyond Sobir Rahimov metro on Halqlar Dustigli. Tashkent’s public bus station (Halqlar Dustligi), across the street from Sobir Rahimov metro, serves mainly regions around Tashkent and is of little use to travellers.

There are two main departure points for shared taxis and marshrutkas to the Fergana Valley: the parking lot of the train station; and Qoylok Bazaar, about 10 minutes east of Tashkent on the Fergana Hwy. The former is harder to get to but you’ll be rewarded with cheaper shared taxis.

For Chimgan you’ll find shared taxisaround Buyuk Ipak Yoli metro (per seat 5000S, 1½ hours).

There aren’t any schedules, but there are dozens of vehicles heading to all of the above destinations throughout the day. There are fewer vehicles to distant Urgench. As long as you don’t arrive too late, you’ll have no problem finding a ride and should be on your way within an hour.

Sample routes and fares for shared taxis, marshrutkas and buses are below.

Train

The most comfortable if not the most flexible way to travel westward from Tashkent is via train out of Tashkent’s newly renovated train station (vokzal; 005), next to the Tashkent metro.

There are new ‘high-speed’ trains withairplane-style seating running to both Samarkand (2nd class/1st class 6500/12, 000S, four hours, five times per week at 7am) and Buk-hara (2nd class/1st class 11, 000/15, 000S, eight hours, daily at 8.10am). The Bukhara train, known as the ‘Sharq’, stops in Samarkand.

Slower but cheaper Soviet-style passenger night trains still trundle to those and other cities. The following prices are for platskartnyy (hard sleeper) carriages: Bukhara (11, 000S, 12½ hours, daily), Kungrad (via Nukus; 20, 000S, 22 hours, twice weekly), Qarshi (14, 000S, nine hours, odd days), Samarkand (7500S, six hours, twice daily), and Urgench (17, 000S, 20 hours, twice weekly).

Public transport serving the train station includes tram 8 (from Chorsu via Navoi kuchasi), tram 9 (via Usman Nosir; Shota Rustaveli), bus 60 (from Amir Timur kuchasi) and bus 3 (via Nukus kuchasi). Look for the ‘vokzal’ sign.

Buying tickets

The main ticket booth is in a separate building around the back and to the right as you face the main lobby of the train station. But foreigners often get directed to a special ticket booth to the left as you enter the lobby. To buy tickets from the ‘locals’ booth you first must register with the Office of Visas & Registration (OVIR) in an office toward the back of the main lobby.

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Air

Domestic flights leave from the domestic terminal, about 150m from the international terminal, 6km south of the centre.

From Tashkent, Uzbekistan Airways flies to Andijon (one way US$31, 1½ hours, five weekly), Bukhara (US$36, 1½ hours, at least daily except Saturday), Fergana (US$30, one hour, daily except Sunday), Nukus (US$51, 1½ hours, twice daily), Termiz (US$40, 1½ hours, three daily), Samarkand (US$22, one hour, five weekly) and Urgench (US$55, one hour, three daily).

Most of the above routes are serviced by a mix of Boeings and Russian planes such as Tupolevs and Yaks. If you are leery of the latter, pick up a timetable at the Uzbekistan Airways office to see what is flying where.

Airline offices

British Airways pulled out of Uzbekistan in early 2007 on the heels of exits by Air France and KLM. These airlines might return if Uzbek–EU relations improve. The airlines listed below can still be found in Tashkent.

Aeroflot (220 05 55 Abdulla Qodiri 1A; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat) Daily flights to Moscow (US$425 return).

AK Kyrgyzstan (formerly Altyn Air; 152 16 45; Mirobod 27) Daily to Bishkek (one way US$140).

Asiana Airlines (40 09 01; Afrosiab 16) Office was relocating at the time of research. Round-trip to Seoul for US$1000.

Iran Air (133 81 63; Azimova 1) Flies to Tehran (one way/return US$346/543) on Monday.

Lufthansa (137 60 65; tasgulh@dlh.de; Hotel InterContinental, Amir Timur 107A) Services most major world cities via Uzbekistan Airways planes to Frankfurt; final destination cannot be Frankfurt.

Transaero (139 99 35; Halqlar Dustligi 6A) Moscow (one way US$256) three times a week.

Turkish Airlines (136 79 89; Navoi 11A) Îstanbul (one way/return US$423/510) four times a week.

Buying tickets

Outbound tickets are best bought at the Uzbekistan Airways booking office (066, 140 02 00; www.uzairways.com; Usmon Nosir 9; 8am-7pm). An information desk in the centre of the booking office will direct you towards an English-speaking agent. There is a money exchange office in the same building. Most private travel agencies can book international flights only. You can buy last-minute tickets on domestic flights from a little booth inside the domestic terminal.

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