I’m going to be arriving in Tashkent in June (volcanic ash permitting) on the Aeroflot flight from London/Moscow – it gets in at 03.35.
Any advice about getting into Tashkent? In general I loathe airport taxi-drivers.
In an ideal world I’d like to find a single room for around $25. Any suggestions? Are airport pick-ups a possibility?
Can you get US$ on a VISA card in Tashkent?
Thanks for any help.
Airport taxi drivers are the same the world over, but remain an unfortunate fact of life. There is no public transport into town at that time, but stand firm and you can probably get them from $20 (!) down to about 5000s ($2.5), price to the airport is about 3000s.
Possible, depending on how high your standards are. That's the low end, but you should find a clean, basic double for that price. Airport pickups are a definite possibility, but are likely to cost $10 - 15.
There are some ATMs which sometimes dispense dollars, and I believe it's possible to get advances on visa credit cards, but you can't rely on this. Bring cash USD.
3) ATMs are not great in Tashkent, take some cash as #1 said. I spent about ten days in Tashkent in December 2008 and never found an ATM in working order.
You can get a cash advance on a Visa card fairly easily at several locations in Tashkent (a few 4-star hotels, plus the NBU) and at any NBU in the provinces. But it will cost. If you have MasterCard, you can get unlimited USD out of Asaka Bank ATMs (again located at several 4-star hotels), and they almost always are working. There are exceptions, of course.
Walking out of the Tashkent airport at 3 AM, I was MOBBED by every cab-driving shark in the country. Unfortunately I had taken forever to get my airport visa, so all the others from my flight were long gone...so there was just me and all these creeps calling me "dushka" (Russian equivalent of "hey, baby")
I hated them so much that I walked into Tashkent.
It's possible to do this, but probably not if you're carrying heavy stuff.
I got into the city itself, a couple of km, before I broke down and hailed a passing car. A ride anywhere within Tashkent should not cost you any more than $2-$3.
It's not hard to find your way into the city on foot, there's really only one road that leads to the big buildings, but even if you don't want to walk all the way (Tash is huge) you can walk far enough to get away from the sharks and find someone a little less dishonest.
Good luck.
You can withdraw cash with a Visa card in Tashkent, and I did it in Bukhara also. I paid a $3 commission to withdraw $100. Withdraw dollars no matter what they tell you, then exchange those dollars on the black market.
Current black market rate = 2200 sum / $1.
Official rate is something like 1580 sum / $1.
Don't ever change at the official rate!
Lots of people can change money at black market rate, if you're not near a bazaar, try a food shop or a jewelry store.
i emailed gulnara guesthouse/25dollars a night (i recommend this place) and they got someone to pick me up in his taxi. the guy was waiting for me at the agreed time and even put the effort into wearing a suit! walking out in the early hours could be a little intimidating if you dont have any transport plans-but there are plenty of locals just hanging about and you could easily negotiate them down to 5dollars i reckon.
gulnara's husband then changed money for me on the blackmarket the next day.
one word of advice-fill in the customs form CAREFULLY.
make sure you declare all equipment/medicines etc because i got searched coming out and thankfully chucked all my medicine before-having failed to declare it, as the look to fine people up to 500dollars if you leave with more money etc than what you took in.
tashkent is a unique place but one that i will never forget. go and experience it for yourself!