Two Days in Tashkent: A Fun but Realistic 48-Hour Itinerary

Tashkent is often referred to as a “gateway city”, the first stop for travellers before they move on to the more striking Uzbek cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, or Khiva. If you’re travelling from abroad, you’re almost definitely going to be landing in Tashkent, and rather than skipping the capital, let’s talk about how to make the most of two days in Tashkent.

When I read two day itineraries, they often pack the two days so full that to actually follow them usually means four days, with a day for arrival/departure either side. And I get it, it’s great to have options. For any itineraries that I write, I like to think about what two nights in the city would actually look like if I did them myself. This means building in time for arrival and departure, and breaks throughout the day. Uzbekistan gets incredibly hot in the summer, so stopping for some air-con, a lunchtime nap, or a cold drink somewhere is inevitable.

Tashkent at a Glance

Day 1: Arrival and The Soviet Silhouette

When I first landed in Uzbekistan on a flight from London, it was the wee hours of the morning and it was about 5am by the time I finally fell into my bed. If you’re coming in on a similar red-eye, or arriving in the morning of your first day in Tashkent, you’ll need that time to get your bearings. So, let’s start your two days in Tashkent in the afternoon.

Afternoon: Amir Timur Square

As I’ve written about in my “things to do in Tashkent” post, Amir Timur is a name you’re going to hear again and again in Uzbekistan. The square named after the famous conqueror is the hub of the city. Eight major streets radiate out from it, and if you can find the statue of Timur on his horse, you’ll always be able to orient yourself.

If you’re just arriving off a train or plane, you don’t need the chaos of a bazaar immediately, and you won’t be able to fully appreciate the majesty of the mosques, so Amir Timur Square is a good place to introduce yourself to the city.

It’s also the place where you’ll get the best insight into the Soviet influence of the city. While the rest of Uzbekistan will show you the magical, storybook-esque buildings you came here for, Tashkent is a reminder that Uzbekistan was once part of the USSR.

From the square, you’ll be able to see the Dom Forum, the Tashkent Chimes, and your next stop: The Hotel Uzbekistan.

Evening: Hotel Uzbekistan

The Hotel Uzbekistan is an icon of Tashkent. You’ll either find it fascinating or hideous, but there’s no escaping it. Aim to be here around sunset and make your way up to the bar at the very top. You’ll get a great view out over the city skyline, with a nightly light show illuminating the skyscrapers in the distance.

Day 2: Old City Soul and Underground Art

On your second day, or first full day in Tashkent, get up early to make the most of the day. Have breakfast in your hotel or a local cafe before heading out. Starting early means you get to beat the intense midday sun, and get to the sights before the tour buses start to arrive.

Morning: Hazrati Imam Complex

Start your day at the Hazrati Imam Complex. If Tashkent is your first city in Uzbekistan, it’ll give you a taste of what’s to come over the rest of your time in the country. It’s a stunningly beautiful example of Uzbek Islamic architecture and design.

Take your time here exploring the Hazrati Imam Mosque, the Mo’yi Muborak madrasa, andthe Qaffol Shoshi mausoleum.

Entrance to the complex is free of charge, but if you want to see the world’s oldest Quran, there’s a small charge of about 5,000 UZS (About 30p in GBP / 42c in USD). Photos are allowed in the complex, but not of the Quran itself. There’s a replica inside its building that you’re welcome to take photos of.

Chorsu Bazaar

After you’ve spent time exploring the craft shops in the old student cells of the madrasah, or marvelling over the interiors of the mosque, head for the Chorsu Bazaar. It’s about 2 kilometres from the Hazrati Imam Complex, so if the sun hasn’t gotten too intense, you can walk. Otherwise, it’ll be a very short and cheap Yandex taxi ride – about 8m drive.

Even if you’re not planning on buying anything, you’ll want some time to wander Chorsu Bazaar. It winds back beyond the blue dome, and there’s so much to see. Here, you can watch the bakers at work making non bread, or haggle over spices to take home.

If you’re planning an onward train journey from Tashkent, it’s also a great place to stop and pick up some snacks for the ride.

Lunch

Once you’ve had your fill of the bazaar, you’ll want to stop for lunch somewhere. There’s the Plov Centre in the Bazaar if you want to try Uzbekistan’s national dish, or maybe there’s somewhere you’d already pinned on your maps.

If the heat is getting to you at this point, or you’re still feeling the wave of jetlag, it’s also a good time to catch a Yandex back to your hotel for a nap, a shower, or a brief recharge before you go about the rest of your day.

Afternoon: Exploring the City’s Art

No two days in Tashkent would be complete without getting a feel for the art of the city, and once you’ve had a chance to get your energy back and escape the heat of midday, it’s time to head out again.

Metro Tour

The Tashkent Metro is often called the world’s most beautiful public transport, and once you see it for yourself, you’ll understand why. Each of the city’s 50 stations has its own unique style, and some of them look like they should be mosques, museums, or galleries rather than a rail station.

Up until 2018, it was illegal to take photos in the stations as they double up as bomb shelters, but today you can take photos to your heart’s content, and believe me, you’ll want to.

To start your metro tour, head back to Chorsu Bazaar and get on at Chorsu station. From there, follow this route:

• Stop 1: Alisher Navoiy (Blue Line)
  • This is only one stop away from Chorsu. Get out here and admire the silk-cotton domed ceilings.
  • At Alisher Navoiy, follow the internal walkway to the Paxtakor (“cotton picker”) station, it’s an easy underground swap.
• Stop 2: Paxtakor (Red Line)
  • You’ll spot the vibrant cotton boll mosaics immediately, a nod to one of Uzbekistan’s biggest crops.
  • From here, take the Red Line south, in the direction of Olmazor.
• Stop 3: Mustaqillik Maydoni (Red Line)
  • This is just one stop from Paxtakor, and it’s the Independence Square station. It’s made of pure white marble with massive crystal chandeliers.
  • From here, head back to Paxtakor and transfer back to the Blue Line, heading towrds Do’stlik.
• Final Stop: Kosmonavtlar (Blue Line)
  • This is the “cosmonaut” station. It’s moody, futuristic, and features murals of cosmonaut portraits.
  • It’s the perfect finale to your tour of the stations and it’ll leave you a 10 minute walk from your next stop.

The Museum of Applied Arts

Continuing with the art theme, you’re going to walk the 10 minutes from Kosmonavtlar Station to The Museum of Applied Arts. Housed in the former residence of a 19th-century diplomat, it’s an intimate, beautiful dedication to traditional Uzbek arts and craftwork.

If Tashkent is your first city on your Uzbekistan travels, this museum gives you a great introduction and appreciation for the mosaics, tiles, and other crafts you’re going to see around the rest of the country.

Entrance is about 25,000 – 30,000 UZS (roughly £1.50 GBP / $2.00 USD), and there’s often a small extra fee if you want to take professional photos with a DSLR or similar. Phone photos are usually fine, but you’ll see signage anywhere you’re not allowed take photos.

It’s a small museum, and you’ll only need about 45 minutes here. There’s a gift shop on site where the prices are higher than Chorsu Bazaar, but the quality is guaranteed. If you don’t have the energy for haggling or you want to be sure you’re getting a real silk scarf, this is where to go.

Evening: Dinner and Your Last Night in Tashkent

After the Museum of Applied Arts, you may have some time to kill before you’ll want dinner. How you want to spend your last night in Tashkent depends on what you’re doing the next day. If you’ve got an early Afrosiyob train onwards to Samarkand, you probably don’t want to be hitting the clubs til the wee hours (and if you do, then please tell me your stamina secrets).

At this point in the day, I’d recommend a walk through Tashkent City Park. It’s the largest recreational park in Uzbekistan, covering more than 18 hectares, and a great way to appreciate the modernity of the city while winding down from your two days in Tashkent.

Or, if it’s earlier in the day than you’d expected, and you’ve got the energy, Magic City is Uzbekistan’s answer to Disneyland and it’s open until 10pm. There are rides, an aquarium, and a food court if you want to grab dinner there.

If theme parks aren’t really your thing, then why not check out a ballet or opera at the Alisher Navoiy theatre? Tickets are usually affordable, and a language barrier doesn’t matter for music! If you go for the culture route, just be aware of a few key rules:

• The theatre has a dress code, so aim for smart causal. Avoid gym gear or flip flops, but a pair of jeans and a nice top won’t let you down. No hats are allowed during the performance.
• In Central Asian and Russian theatres, there are three buzzers. When the third one goes, they lock the doors. If you’re late, you won’t be allowed in until intermission.
• Like most theatres around the world, you can take photos before the performance, but not during.
• If you’re shuffling along people to get to your seat, turn to face them, don’t have your backside in their faces.

Day 3: Onward Bound

Many travellers to Uzbekistan travel onward to Samarkand from Tashkent, and if that’s you, you’re probably going to be on one of the early morning Afrosiyob high speed trains. You won’t have much time to do anything else in Tashkent in the morning, so load up on a good breakfast in the hotel, and make sure you get to the correct train station at least 40 minutes before departure.

If, however, you do have a later departure, or you’ve got more than two days in Tashkent, the next section has some fun side quests you can add to your itinerary.

Tours and Side Quests in Tashkent

For those staying for more than two days in Tashkent, there’s plenty of day trips and tours you can do from the capital. Even if you are capped at two days in Tashkent, booking shorter walking tours or other activities with a local guide means you get to see a side of the city that’s harder to do by yourself.

When I was in Uzbekistan, I had an Uzbek guide with me for the duration of my journey. My guide, Jonibek, absolutely loved Uzbekistan and you could see how much happiness it brought him to share the histories and stories with visitors. I learned so much from Jonibek during my time in his gorgeous country, and even if you don’t book a guide for your full stay, I’d still recommend at least one or two activities during your time in Uzbekistan.

For Tashkent, here are some of the best options of tours and activities, with a range of budgets.

City Tours and Walking Tours

• City Highlights Small Group Tour
  • This tour has both private options and the option to join a group. Their group tours only run on certain days, but they have both morning and afternoon slots available, making it a good option for your first day.
• A Five Hour Private Walking Tour
  • This tour has a lot of flexibility with start times, as it’s a private tour. If you’re landing in the morning of your first day, this could also be a great option for the afternoon once you’ve had a chance to rest.
• City Tour with Hotel Pickup
  • Another good option for your first day, this tour will collect you from your hotel, and one of their drop off spots is the Hotel Uzbekistan. If you go for the afternoon option, you’ll be at the Hotel Uzbekistan just in time for a sunset drink. Even though this is a private tour, it’s pretty reasonably priced given the convenience of a hotel pickup.

Food Tours

• Tashkent Vegan Food Tour
  • This tour is run by Uzveg, a company I’ve had my eye on for awhile. Unfortunately, there’s no “join a group” option, so for a solo traveller, this will be expensive, however if you’re a fellow plant based traveller, you might find it’s worth it to be able to get a truly vegan food experience in Uzbekistan.
• Food Tour and Metro Guide
  • This tour rolls food and a metro station tour into one. If you combined it with one of the city tours, you’d cover most of the main sights in Tashkent!
• Retro Car Tour and Lunch in a Family Home
  • On my own trip to Uzbekistan, I had a couple of meals in family homes. Even though the families regularly cook for tourists and often have their homes set up for it, it’s still a glimpse into everyday Uzbek life that you just won’t get from a restaurant.
  • This particular tour is a full day tour, and takes you to a village outside Tashkent, so it’s a good one to do if you have extra time in Tashkent or want to spend your full day immersed in local life.

Day Trips for the Adventurous

If you’ve got more than two days in Tashkent and you really want to go off the beaten track, these are some of the best day trips:

• Day Trip to Khujand, Tajikistan
  • Tashkent is about an hour’s drive from the border with neighbouring country, Tajikistan. If you want to add an extra stamp to your passport and explore the city of Khujand, this tour lasts about 8 hours.
  • For a couple or group, it’s reasonably priced given the distance you’ll cover. For solo travellers, you’ll need to weigh up if the cost is worth it to you.
• Day Trip to Shymkent, Kazakhstan
  • Another stamp for the passport, this trip takes you into Kazakhstan. You’ll visit Kazakhstan’s second biggest city, Shymkent. Here, you’ll have a chance to visit the monuments and sights of the old town. Like other day trips, it gets cheaper the more people are in your group.
• Day Trip to the Jade Lake
  • If the rest of your Uzbek itinerary takes you to cities, this is a great option to get out and see some of the nature of the country. You’ll be taken into the Tian Shan mountains, an enormous mountain range that stretches from Uzbekistan all the way to China. Hotel pickup and dropoff included.

Travelling Onward from Tashkent

For most travellers, Samarkand is the next stop after Tashkent, and it’s only about 2.5 hours away by high speed train. Most trains leave early in the morning, around 8am. You can check the full schedule here, and I’ve written a separate guide on the train system in Uzbekistan.

Regardless of whether you’re going on to Samarkand or elsewhere in the country, most trains leave from Tashkent Central/Tsentr (North), but be sure to check the station on your ticket. The other primary station is Tashkent South, which tends to service local or regional trains. The two are quite a distance from each other, so make sure you don’t end up at the wrong one.

If you’re heading on to the airport, a Yandex is generally quite cheap out to the airport, and it’s a quick, reliable service.

Where to Stay in Tashkent

You’re pretty spoiled for choice of hotels in Tashkent, so whether you want a five star experience or a cosy family-run guesthouse, you’ll find it. If you’re looking at Tashkent on a map, you’ll see that it’s surrounded by a ring road (literally called Little Ring Road). If you stay within the ring road, you’ll be within easy Yandex access of everything you’re going to want to see. The closer you are to Tashkent City Park or Amir Temur Square, the easier it’ll be for you to get around.

Here are some of the best that cover a range of vibes and price points:

• The Hotel Uzbekistan
  • It’s the iconic Brutalist Soviet-era hotel. A lot of people find the decor quite dated, so don’t expect Tashkent’s answer to the Ritz, but it is a piece of the city’s history and will keep you right in the heart of all the action.
• Jahongir B&B
  • A total gear shift from the Hotel Uzbekistan, Jahongir is a family run B&B. For my fellow vegans, you’ll often have better luck for vegan breakfasts at smaller guesthouses. They tend not to have a strict set menu, and are often more likely to cook something especially for you.
• Farovon Boutique Hotel
  • A little bit more expensive than the two above, but still a bargain by London standards, the Farovon Hotel looks like it’d be more at home in Bukhara than Tashkent. It’s located near the Hazrati Imam Complex and it’s beautiful. It’s the one to pick if you immediately want to be immersed in Uzbek aesthetics.

Final Thoughts

Is two days in Tashkent enough? Honestly, I would say yes. As much as I feel that Tashkent gets a bad rap for being “just a gateway city”, the reality is that the rest of Uzbekistan is a lot more striking, and the cities feel more like living museums.

For most of us who travel to Uzbekistan, we’ve got limited annual leave, and need to make the most of our time in the country. For this reason, I think two days in Tashkent is the perfect amount of time to land, get your bearings, explore the capital, and then set off on the rest of your Uzbek adventure well rested and ready to go.

If you’re more the slow travel type, or you’re spending a couple of months backpacking around Central Asia, then by all means stay longer. Tashkent is a modern city of over 3 million people, of course there’s going to be plenty to do and see. I put this itinerary together as a bit of a whistlestop tour, but you could very easily spend a week in the city living like a local. It’s also a great hub to explore more of the region from, with regular flights to neighbouring countries.

In fact, on my first trip to Tashkent, I’d only booked a one way ticket, as I was pretty sure I’d want to take advantage of its location to travel onwards. And I did, on a direct flight to Bangkok. You’ll also find direct flights from Tashkent to places like Turkiye, Kazakhstan, India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, China, and even New York.

If you are planning two days in Tashkent as part of a larger Uzbekistan trip, I’ve got similar itineraries for Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva – and I’m currently working on a master Uzbekistan tour itinerary, so keep your eyes peeled, or sign up for the mailing list!