Tashkent: where to stay, eat and set off across Uzbekistan

Overview

Tashkent is a big, flat, spread-out capital that most travellers pass through on the way to Samarkand and Bukhara — and that is a fair reading of it. A catastrophic earthquake in 1966 flattened much of the low mud-brick city, and the Soviet rebuild that followed set the shape you see now: wide boulevards, monumental squares, generous parks and long distances between things. There is no dense medieval core to wander the way the desert cities have; the old town survives in patches around Chorsu bazaar, but the rest is broad avenues and residential blocks. What Tashkent does give you is the most comfortable, best-connected base in Central Asia — a genuinely good metro, cheap taxis, the region’s main airport and the fast trains south — plus the best plov you will eat and a mix of Uzbek, Russian and Korean food you will not find as easily elsewhere. Come expecting a functional, green, quietly likeable city rather than a sightseeing marathon, and give it a day or two before the trains take you on.

Where to stay

Tashkent is not walkable end to end — it is a low-rise sprawl, and you will use the metro and taxis daily wherever you sleep. So choose your area by what you want within a short walk of the door, and accept that everything else is a cheap ride away. Distances are real: the old city and the modern centre are a proper metro trip apart, not a stroll.

The modern centre — Amir Temur Square & Broadway

The heart of the rebuilt city, around Amir Temur Square and the pedestrian strip locals call Broadway (Sailgokh), running down toward Independence Square (Mustaqillik Maydoni). This is the most convenient base: museums, the opera theatre, parks, cafés and the widest choice of rooms are all here or a short metro hop away, and several metro lines cross underneath. Stay here on a first visit or a short one. The trade-off is that it is the priciest part of town and the least characterful — polished, official, a little sterile in the evenings once the office crowd goes home.

The old city & Chorsu

Northwest of the centre, around the blue-domed Chorsu bazaar, the Kukeldash Madrasah and the Khast Imam complex, this is the closest Tashkent comes to a traditional mahalla quarter — narrow lanes, low houses, mosques, the smell of bread and grilled meat. Stay here if you want the old Uzbek city rather than the Soviet one, and if a working market on your doorstep appeals. The trade-offs are real: fewer comfortable rooms, more basic guesthouses, quieter and darker at night, and you are further from the restaurants and nightlife of the centre.

Around the railway station (Mirabad)

The southern district near Tashkent’s main railway station, where the Afrosiyob fast trains to Samarkand and Bukhara leave. Practical if you are arriving late, leaving early, or treating Tashkent purely as a transit hub — you can roll to the platform in minutes. It is also close to the airport. The trade-off is that it is a transport zone, not a destination: functional streets, less to do on foot, and you will still ride in to reach the sights.

Chilanzar

A large Soviet-era residential district southwest of the centre, strung along its own metro line. This is where you stay for lower prices and everyday, non-touristy Tashkent — apartment blocks, neighbourhood cafés, markets, a park. Good for longer stays and travellers on a budget who don’t mind commuting in. The trade-off is distance and blandness: you are well outside the centre, and the appeal is convenience and cost rather than atmosphere.

When to go

Spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are clearly the best times: warm, dry days, comfortable evenings, and the bazaars piled with fruit in autumn. Summer is punishing — Tashkent bakes in a dry continental heat that pushes past 40°C in July and August, and the middle of the day becomes something to hide from. Winter is cold, grey and can be damp, with occasional snow; the city is quiet and cheap, and it is plov-and-shurpa weather, but skies are often flat. If you are combining Tashkent with the desert cities, the same shoulder seasons suit the whole trip — high summer is hard everywhere in Uzbekistan.

Getting there & around

The airport is close to the centre, on the south side of town, and the simplest way in is a taxi or a ride-hailing app, which are cheap and the local norm; agree a price or use the app rather than taking the first quote at arrivals. Once in the city, the Tashkent metro is your main tool — three original lines plus a newer overground ring line, cheap, frequent and easy, and worth riding for its own sake: several of the older stations are extravagantly decorated, and photography, once banned, is now allowed. Above ground, buses and shared marshrutka minibuses fill the gaps, but for a visitor the metro plus the odd taxi covers almost everything. Don’t bother with a rental car — distances, traffic and parking make it more trouble than it is worth when rides are this cheap.

The reason many people are here at all is the onward rail. The high-speed Afrosiyob runs from Tashkent to Samarkand in around two hours and continues to Bukhara; it is comfortable, popular and worth booking well ahead, as seats sell out in the spring and autumn season. Slower, cheaper trains cover the same routes if the fast one is full.

Practicalities

Tashkent is a safe and relaxed city to move around; ordinary care at night and around the station is all that is needed. The local language is Uzbek, but Russian is spoken everywhere and is the more useful second language for a traveller; English is patchy outside hotels and tourist spots. The currency is the Uzbek som, which comes in large numbers — carry cash for markets, small cafés and taxis, as card acceptance is improving but not universal, and ATMs are common in the centre. When you check into a hotel, keep the registration slips they give you; Uzbekistan has historically asked visitors to account for where they stayed, and it costs nothing to hold on to them.

The food is the real reward. Plov (osh) — rice cooked with lamb, carrots, onion and sometimes quince or chickpeas — is the national dish, and Tashkent takes it seriously; it is traditionally an earlier-in-the-day meal, and the big plov halls can sell out by mid-afternoon. Beyond it, look for samsa baked in a tandoor, skewers of shashlik, hand-pulled lagman noodles, steamed manti, and the round non bread that appears at every table. Tashkent also has a notable Korean community descended from Soviet-era deportations, so carrot salad and Korean dishes turn up in the markets alongside Uzbek fare. Green tea is the default drink; you will be poured it constantly, and it is the polite thing to accept.