Samarkand is an ancient Uzbek city on the historic Silk Road, celebrated for its stunning Timurid architecture, vibrant bazaars and a rich cultural heritage that has drawn travellers and traders from across the world for more than two millennia.
Uzbekistan: The Timeless Soul of Tashkent in Uzbekistan
Contents
1. About Tashkent
2. Things to do
– Explore the Hazrat Imam Complex and Ancient Qur’an
– Wander Through the Kukeldash Madrassah
– Lose Yourself Inside Chorsu Bazaar
– Ride the Spectacular Tashkent Metro
– Admire the Magnificent Hotel Uzbekistan
– Discover Treasures at the Applied Arts Museum
– Take in the Alisher Navoi Opera House
– Visit the Amir Temur Square and Museum
– Browse the State Museum of History
– Step Inside the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin
3. Getting to and around
4. Best time to visit
5. Where to stay
About Tashkent
Tashkent is not, I’ll be honest, a city I had particularly high hopes for before I went. The capital of Uzbekistan doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue in the same romantic way as Samarkand or Bukhara — those legendary Silk Road names that make even the most jaded traveller prick up their ears. But Tashkent rather crept up on me. It’s a sprawling, complex city of around three million people that has been knocked down and rebuilt so many times — by Mongols, Tsarist Russians, Soviet planners, and a catastrophic earthquake in 1966 — that it carries all these layers at once, and the result is oddly compelling. I arrived expecting little more than a transit stop. I left with a genuine fondness for the place.
What you get in Tashkent is a city that can’t quite decide what it is, and is better for it. Wide Soviet boulevards lined with chestnut trees sit alongside ancient mosques and busy traditional bazaars. The metro stations look as though they were designed by people who thought they were building cathedrals. Modern glass towers are going up everywhere, suggesting someone, somewhere, has decided that Tashkent has a future as well as a past. The food is excellent, the people are genuinely warm, and everything costs about a third of what it would elsewhere. I didn’t expect to find myself wandering around at ten o’clock at night feeling utterly safe and pleasantly surprised. But there we are.
It’s worth saying that Tashkent does require a bit of patience. Things are not always where the map says they are. Opening times can be, shall we say, aspirational. Some of the signs are only in Uzbek or Russian, which is not enormously helpful if, like me, you read neither. But all of that is part of the experience, and the city rewards those who stick with it. A few days here will leave you better prepared for the rest of Uzbekistan, and rather fond of a capital city that doesn’t try too hard to please you.
Things to do
🏛️ Explore the Hazrat Imam Complex and Ancient Qur’an
🕌 Wander Through the Kukeldash Madrassah
Just a short stroll from Chorsu Bazaar, the Kukeldash Madrassah is a sixteenth-century Islamic school that has had a rather eventful life. Built during the reign of the Shaybanid ruler Kulbaba Kukeldash in the 1560s, it has at various points served as a madrassa, a caravanserai, a fortress and, during the Tsarist period, a cotton storage warehouse and place of imprisonment. It was substantially restored in the twentieth century and is now once again operating as a religious school, though it also welcomes visitors. The facade is a fine example of Central Asian Islamic architecture, with its tall arched portal and two minarets framing the entrance. The courtyard inside is calm and attractive, with student cells arranged around the perimeter in the traditional fashion. We climbed to the second floor, which offers a fine view over the neighbouring bazaar and surrounding rooftops — well worth the small fee. It is a quieter, more contemplative experience than some of the more tourist-heavy sites in Uzbekistan, and the better for it.
- Location: Beruni Avenue, old town, Tashkent
- Opening hours: Daily, 09:00–18:00
- Entry fee: Grounds free; second floor approximately 10,000 UZS
🛒 Lose Yourself Inside Chorsu Bazaar
Chorsu Bazaar is the kind of place that makes you remember why travel is worthwhile. One of the oldest markets in Central Asia, its name means “four streams” in Uzbek, a reference to the ancient crossroads on which it stands. The market was given its rather striking blue-domed Soviet makeover in the 1980s, and the result is a glorious architectural hybrid — an ancient institution housed under a structure that looks like a space-age yurt. Inside and around it, the market spreads across a vast area, selling everything from dried fruits and spices to meat, bread, ceramics, embroidered textiles and mountains of brightly coloured vegetables. It is chaotic, loud, fragrant and absolutely marvellous. We spent a good couple of hours here without getting anywhere near all of it. The ground floor of the main dome houses the food stalls; outside, vendors spread their wares across the surrounding streets and squares. We sampled the dried mulberries and the pistachios, both of which were exceptional. Go hungry, go early, and keep an eye on your pockets — not because it is dangerous, but because you will buy more than you intended.
- Location: Sakichmon Street, old town, Tashkent
- Opening hours: Mon–Fri 05:00–20:00; Sat–Sun 05:00–21:00
- Entry fee: Free
🚇 Ride the Spectacular Tashkent Metro
Tashkent’s metro was the first in Central Asia when it opened in 1977, and it was built to impress. The Soviets understood that public infrastructure could also be propaganda, and so each station was designed as an architectural statement — a gift to the people of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. What they produced is extraordinary. The stations are vast, ornate and decorated with mosaics, marble, carved plaster, stained glass and intricate tilework, each one themed differently. Kosmonavtlar station celebrates the Soviet space programme with cosmic imagery. Alisher Navoiy station honours the great fifteenth-century Uzbek poet with elaborate decorative panels. Paxtakor station is a hymn to cotton, Uzbekistan’s historic crop. The trains are frequent and reliable, and a single journey costs next to nothing. For us, the metro became as much an attraction as a means of transport, and we found ourselves riding it back and forth just to see more stations. The system now has three lines and 29 stations. Photography was once forbidden — it was classified as a military installation — but restrictions have eased considerably in recent years. Take a ride.
- Location: Multiple stations across Tashkent city
- Opening hours: Daily, 05:00–00:00
- Entry fee: Approximately 1,400 UZS per journey
🏢 Admire the Magnificent Hotel Uzbekistan
This one requires a small explanation. The Hotel Uzbekistan is not just a place to sleep — it is a monument, and one of the finest examples of Soviet Modernist architecture anywhere in Central Asia. Built in 1974 and designed in a style sometimes called “constructivist brutalism with Central Asian flourishes,” the building is a great curved white slab of concrete that towers over Amir Temur Square, slightly menacing and completely magnificent. The white relief panels along the facade give it an almost decorative quality, which feels at odds with the sheer scale of the thing, and that tension is exactly what makes it so interesting. It has recently undergone significant renovation and continues to operate as a working hotel, but even if you are not staying there, it is worth walking around it and taking in the full effect. We stood in front of it for some time, trying to work out exactly how we felt about it. The honest answer is that we rather loved it. It is a building of enormous confidence — a building that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t much care whether you approve. There is something admirable about that.
- Location: 45 Mirzamakhmud Musakhanov Street, Tashkent
- Entry fee: Free (exterior viewing)
🏺 Discover Treasures at the Applied Arts Museum
The State Museum of Applied Arts is housed in a nineteenth-century mansion that once belonged to a Tsarist diplomat named Alexander Polovtsov, and the building itself is as much a reason to visit as anything inside it. It is an extraordinary hybrid of Russian imperial architecture and traditional Uzbek craftsmanship — the carved and painted wooden ceilings, the decorative plasterwork, the colourful tilework — all of it produced by Uzbek craftsmen working within the forms the Russian owner required. The result is genuinely beautiful and unlike anything else in Tashkent. The collection inside focuses on Uzbek decorative arts across the centuries — embroideries, ceramics, carpets, jewellery, carved woodwork and silk. The ikat textiles are particularly remarkable, with their shimmering patterns created by a complex resist-dyeing process applied to the threads before weaving. We spent longer here than we expected to, which is generally a reliable sign of a good museum. It is calm, unhurried and not at all overwhelming — a civilised antidote to the chaos of the bazaar.
- Location: 15 Rakatboshi Street, Tashkent
- Website: appliedart.uz
- Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 09:00–18:00
- Entry fee: Approximately 20,000 UZS
🎭 Take in the Alisher Navoi Opera House
The Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theatre is Tashkent’s grandest building and, by any measure, one of the more unusual structures in Central Asia. Built between 1939 and 1947 under the direction of the architect Aleksei Shchusev — the same man responsible for Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow, should you need context — it was constructed partly using Japanese prisoners of war, a fact that the Japanese government later acknowledged by funding major restoration work in the 1990s. The exterior is a confident blend of Soviet classicism and Uzbek decorative tradition, with pointed arches and tiled ornamental bands sitting alongside Corinthian columns. Inside, each of the main foyers is decorated in the style of a different Uzbek city — Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and others — giving the whole building a sort of compressed tour of the country’s architectural heritage. We attended a performance of Swan Lake, which felt faintly absurd in Uzbekistan but was rather wonderful. Tickets are extremely affordable by any European standard.
- Location: 28 Bukhara Street, Tashkent
- Website: gabt.uz
- Opening hours: Box office typically 11:00–19:00; performance schedule varies
- Entry fee: Tickets approximately 20,000–100,000 UZS
🗿 Visit the Amir Temur Square and Museum
Amir Temur — known in the West as Tamerlane — is Uzbekistan’s national hero, and Tashkent makes no attempt to hide this. The square named after him sits at the centre of the city, a broad, tree-lined space with fountains, flower beds and a seven-metre bronze equestrian statue of the great conqueror, one hand raised in what might be greeting or might be command. It is a handsome public space — well-maintained and popular with locals in the evenings, when families stroll and children splash in the fountains. On one side of the square sits the State Museum of the Temurids (also known as the Amir Timur Museum), housed in a building topped with a striking turquoise dome. Inside, the collection covers the history and achievements of Timur and his dynasty through manuscripts, armour, maps, miniature paintings and reconstructed artefacts. Some of the exhibits are replicas rather than originals, but the building itself is magnificent and the overall experience worthwhile. The museum also contains material relating to Uzbekistan’s broader medieval history, and is a good place to get a sense of the region before heading to Samarkand.
- Location: 1 Amir Temur Avenue, Tashkent
- Website: temurid.uz
- Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 10:00–18:00
- Entry fee: Approximately 50,000 UZS
📚 Browse the State Museum of History
The State Museum of History of Uzbekistan is the largest museum in the country and covers a frankly daunting sweep of time — from prehistoric settlements to the present day, with everything in between including Greek, Persian, Buddhist, Islamic and Soviet periods all getting their turn. It is housed in a large purpose-built building not far from Amir Temur Square, and the scale of the collection is genuinely impressive. There are Zoroastrian relics and Sogdian murals, Greek-influenced Bactrian sculpture and medieval Islamic ceramics. There are displays on the Silk Road trade routes, complete with reconstructed caravanserai scenes, and galleries on the Soviet period that are interesting not just for the objects but for how they are now presented, with a degree of critical distance that was obviously not there when they were first installed. We found the galleries on early Central Asian civilisations particularly fascinating — this part of the world was producing highly sophisticated art and architecture long before most of Europe got around to it, a fact that is easy to overlook. Allow at least two hours.
- Location: 3 Buyuk Turon Street, Tashkent
- Opening hours: Tue–Sun, 10:00–17:00
- Entry fee: Approximately 50,000 UZS
⛪ Step Inside the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin is not what you expect to find in the capital of a predominantly Muslim Central Asian country, which is precisely what makes it so interesting. Built in 1871 during the Tsarist Russian period, when the city was under imperial Russian control, this Russian Orthodox cathedral has had a turbulent existence — closed down by the Soviets in 1933, used as a military depot during the Second World War, and finally reopened for worship in December 1945, when it became the seat of the Bishop of Tashkent. It has been in continuous use ever since. The exterior is a handsome if modest building — pale yellow walls, green domes and a bell tower that was substantially rebuilt in later decades. Inside, the atmosphere is quite different from the Islamic architecture elsewhere in the city — incense, candlelight, golden iconostases and the low murmur of prayer create a world entirely apart from the bazaars and Soviet monuments outside. We found it one of the more quietly affecting places in Tashkent. It is a reminder that this city has always been home to many communities, and that some of them have been here rather longer than the Soviet planners would have preferred.
- Location: 91 Avliyoota Street, Mirobod District, Tashkent
- Opening hours: Daily, 09:00–18:00; liturgies at 09:00 and 17:00
- Entry fee: Free
Getting to and Around
🛬 Getting to Tashkent
Tashkent International Airport (TAS) is the main gateway to Uzbekistan, located around 12 km south of the city centre.
✈️ From the Airport
The simplest arrival option is a ride-hailing app such as Yandex Go or MyTaxi (mytaxi.uz). Install and verify your account before you travel, as phone verification can be tricky on roaming. City-centre rides are inexpensive — typically just a few US dollars. Agree the fare and confirm the driver’s registration plate before boarding.
Your hotel can also arrange a prebooked transfer, which is worth considering for late-night arrivals or if you’re travelling with heavy luggage.
For those on a tight budget, public buses connect the airport to the city centre. Buses 11, 47 and 9 take around 40 minutes to the centre; Bus 40 goes to the main railway station; Bus 67 runs to Oybek metro station. Services run roughly 06:00–22:00.
🚇 The Metro
The Tashkent Metro is the backbone of city transport — clean, reliable, punctual, and genuinely spectacular. Each station is individually decorated with mosaics and marble, making it an attraction in its own right. The network now has 4 lines and around 50 stations covering over 70 km, with further expansion planned to 2030.
Operating hours are 5:00–midnight daily.
💳 ATTO Card
The ATTO card is a reusable travel card that works across the metro and buses. It is well worth picking up on arrival.
- Single fare with ATTO card: 2,500 UZS (~£0.19) as of October 2026
- Single fare paying cash: 3,000 UZS (~£0.23)
- If you transfer from a bus to the metro within one hour, the second fare is reduced
- 1-day metro pass: 13,500 UZS (~£1.00); 30-day pass: 345,000 UZS (~£26)
- 1-day bus pass: 11,500 UZS (~£0.85); 30-day bus pass: 250,000 UZS (~£19)
The card can be topped up at metro ticket offices, information kiosks, via the ATTO app, and through payment platforms including Click, Payme, and Payme. More information: atto.uz
Modern payment options also include contactless bank cards, mobile apps, Face Pay, and Palm Pay at select stations.
🚌 Buses & Marshrutkas
Tashkent has an extensive bus network with over 128 city routes, supplemented by marshrutkas (shared minibuses). They cover the whole city and are the cheapest way to get around, though routes can be harder to navigate for first-time visitors.
The 2GIS app is highly recommended for planning bus routes — it works offline and shows stops, directions, and journey times clearly. Download it before you go: 2gis.com.
The same ATTO card fare structure applies on buses as on the metro.
🚕 Taxis & Ride-Hailing
Taxis are plentiful and affordable. Street hailing is possible, but always agree the fare in advance as meters are rarely used.
Ride-hailing apps are the safer and more transparent option:
- Yandex Go — the most widely used app in Tashkent; offers multiple vehicle classes. Install and verify before travelling. go.yandex/en_uz
- MyTaxi — local alternative with cash and card options. mytaxi.uz
- WB Taxi (Wildberries Taxi) — another city option with a card-payment bonus scheme. Available on Google Play
Fares for most city journeys are only a few US dollars. For late-night travel or trips to areas not well served by the metro, a taxi app is the most practical choice.
🚲 Cycling
Dedicated cycle lanes and bike-sharing schemes have been introduced in central Tashkent, making cycling a pleasant option for exploring parks and quieter neighbourhoods at your own pace.
🚶 Walking
The city centre is walkable and rewarding on foot. Many major sights are clustered close together, and strolling is the best way to discover teahouses, bazaars, and street life. Tashkent’s broad, tree-lined boulevards are particularly pleasant in spring and autumn.
🗺️ Useful Apps & Resources
| App / Resource | Use |
|---|---|
| Yandex Go | Ride-hailing |
| MyTaxi | Ride-hailing |
| 2GIS | Offline maps & bus routes |
| ATTO app | Transport card top-up |
| voyage.uz | Tashkent transport guide |
💡 Tip: Get a local SIM card at the airport on arrival — mobile data makes navigating apps and maps far easier throughout your stay.
The Best Time to Visit
🌸 Spring (March to May)
Spring is widely regarded as one of the finest seasons to visit Uzbekistan. Temperatures are mild and pleasant, typically ranging from 15°C to 28°C, making it ideal for exploring the country’s legendary Silk Road cities on foot. The landscape transforms as almond and apricot trees burst into blossom, and the bazaars overflow with fresh produce. Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva are at their most photogenic under clear blue skies, and the air carries the scent of flowers from walled gardens and courtyards.
Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated on 21 March, falls at the very start of the season and is a spectacular time to witness traditional music, dancing, and street festivities. Tourist numbers are moderate in March, rising steadily through April and May, so booking accommodation in advance is advisable. The occasional spring shower can bring brief relief from the dust without disrupting plans significantly.
What to pack: Bring layers — mornings and evenings can be cool even when afternoons feel warm. Light trousers, long-sleeved shirts, a mid-layer fleece or cardigan, a packable rain jacket, comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen, and a sun hat. A light scarf is useful for visiting mosques and madrassas.
☀️ Summer (June to August)
Summer in Uzbekistan is formidable. Temperatures in the lowland cities regularly reach 38°C to 42°C, and in the Fergana Valley they can climb even higher. The desert air is intensely dry, and the midday sun beats down on the ancient tilework with unrelenting force. This is the low season for tourism, and you will find far fewer crowds at the major monuments — which can be a genuine pleasure if you are willing to adapt your itinerary around the heat, sightseeing in the early morning and late evening and retreating indoors during the afternoon.
Summer does offer its own rewards. Fruit markets are at their most abundant, laden with watermelons, apricots, cherries, peaches, and figs. The mountainous regions — particularly the Nuratau hills and the Fan Mountains near Samarkand — provide cooler alternatives at altitude and are excellent for trekking. The Aral Sea region, though sobering in its environmental decline, is more accessible in summer. If you are heat-tolerant and budget-conscious, summer offers lower prices and genuine solitude at iconic sites.
What to pack: Breathable, loose-fitting cotton and linen clothing in light colours, UV-protection sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, high-factor sunscreen (SPF 50+), a refillable water bottle, lip balm, electrolyte sachets, and insect repellent for evenings. A light cardigan is useful for air-conditioned restaurants and transport.
🍂 Autumn (September to November)
Autumn rivals spring as the best season to visit and, for many travellers, edges ahead. September and October deliver warm, settled weather — days in the mid-20s to low 30s — with cooler nights that make sleeping comfortable. The harvest season brings extraordinary abundance to the bazaars: pomegranates, quinces, grapes, walnuts, and dried fruits pile high at every stall, and the light has the golden warmth that photographers treasure.
The Silk Road cities feel vibrant without being overwhelmed. Tourist numbers are at their peak in October, particularly around the major festivals and cultural events that coincide with the harvest, so this is the season to book well ahead. November sees a noticeable cooling, particularly in the north, and some mountain passes begin to close, but the cities remain perfectly pleasant into the middle of the month. Autumn is also an excellent time for photography — the tilework glows in softer afternoon light, and the trees around Tashkent and Samarkand turn to rust and gold.
What to pack: Similar to spring — layers are essential as temperatures swing between day and night. Light to mid-weight trousers, shirts, a fleece or light jacket, a packable windproof layer, sturdy walking shoes, sun hat, sunscreen, and a small daypack. A warmer jacket becomes useful in November.
❄️ Winter (December to February)
Winter in Uzbekistan is cooler and quieter than many visitors expect, with temperatures in the cities dropping to between -5°C and 5°C, occasionally lower in Tashkent. Snow is possible but rarely heavy in the lowland cities, and the ancient monuments take on an atmospheric, almost ethereal quality when dusted with frost. This is the quietest season for tourism, and the result is an experience of Uzbekistan that feels remarkably unfiltered — locals going about their daily lives, teahouses full of warmth and conversation, and the great mosques and mausoleums largely to yourself.
Bukhara in particular is magical in winter, its domed caravanserais and narrow lanes free from the summer and autumn crowds. The skiing at Chimgan, north of Tashkent, offers a genuine winter sports option that few international visitors think to include. Indoor attractions — the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan in Tashkent, the regional history museums in Samarkand and Bukhara — come into their own. Budget-conscious travellers will find this the cheapest time to visit, with hotels and tours offering their lowest prices.
What to pack: A warm, windproof outer coat, thermal base layers, mid-layer fleece or down jacket, warm hat, gloves, a scarf, waterproof walking boots with grip, wool socks, and hand warmers. Layers remain the key strategy as interiors are often well-heated.
📊 Seasonal Summary
🗓️ Overall Best Time to Visit
If you can visit only once, aim for April to May or September to October. These shoulder seasons share the same virtues — comfortable temperatures, magnificent light, functioning bazaars, and the Silk Road cities in their full, unhurried glory — but autumn edges ahead for sheer sensory richness. The harvest, the golden light, and the ripe abundance of the markets give October in Uzbekistan a quality that is difficult to match anywhere along the old Silk Road. Spring holds its own appeal for those who wish to witness Nowruz and the blossoming orchards, and either season will provide the conditions in which Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva reveal themselves most generously. Whatever time of year you travel, Uzbekistan rewards those who go with an open itinerary, comfortable shoes, and a willingness to linger.
Where to Stay?
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ JW Marriott Hotel Tashkent
The JW Marriott Hotel Tashkent is the finest hotel in Uzbekistan and, by some distance, the most polished place to stay in the capital. Opened in 2020 as part of the ambitious Tashkent City development — a vast new business and residential district being built on the northern edge of the centre — the hotel occupies a gleaming tower and comes equipped with everything you would expect from the brand at its very best. Rooms are spacious, handsomely furnished and equipped with extremely comfortable beds, which after a long day exploring bazaars and metro stations is not to be undervalued. The spa is excellent, the pool is on the larger side of generous, and there are multiple restaurants and bars serving food of a standard that would not embarrass London or New York. Service is attentive without being fussy. It is expensive by Uzbek standards — though not by the standards of comparable European hotels — and it makes an excellent base for exploring the city. If you are going to do Tashkent in comfort, do it here.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Holiday Inn Tashkent City by IHG
The Holiday Inn Tashkent City is a reliable and well-run four-star hotel that delivers consistently good value in an increasingly competitive market. Also located in the Tashkent City development area, it offers clean, comfortable and well-appointed rooms with the kind of dependable international standard that IHG hotels generally manage to maintain regardless of location. The beds are good, the air conditioning works properly (important in the Tashkent summer, when temperatures become quite serious), and the breakfast buffet is generous and varied. The staff speak good English and are helpful without being obsequious. There is a fitness centre, a business centre and a bar serving a reasonable selection of drinks at prices that remain refreshingly honest. It is perhaps not the most characterful hotel in Tashkent — the Holiday Inn brand is designed to minimise surprises rather than provide them — but for a city that you are still getting to know, a hotel that works exactly as it should is a considerable comfort.
⭐⭐⭐ Baden-Baden Hotel Tashkent
The Baden-Baden Hotel is one of the better mid-range options in Tashkent and punches considerably above its price point. The name is puzzling — the connection to the German spa town is not immediately obvious — but the hotel itself is a pleasant surprise. Rooms are clean, well-maintained and more spacious than the price might suggest, with decent beds and good bathrooms. It is centrally located, which makes getting around by foot and metro straightforward. Breakfast is included in most room rates and is a cut above the perfunctory affair that budget hotels elsewhere tend to offer. The lobby and common areas are tastefully decorated without being showy about it, and the staff are consistently helpful and friendly. We found it a comfortable and unpretentious base for exploring the city — the kind of place that does exactly what it promises and doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t. At the rates charged, it represents very good value indeed, particularly given its central location.
⭐⭐ Hotel Marwa Tashkent Pool & Spa
Hotel Marwa is something of an overachiever in the budget category — a small, locally-owned property that has accumulated an impressive reputation through consistent attention to detail and genuine hospitality. It sits in a residential area of the city and offers clean, comfortable rooms at prices that remain astonishingly low by any Western standard. The rooms are simply furnished but well-kept, with comfortable beds and clean bathrooms, and the hotel has the great advantage of a small swimming pool and spa facilities that feel like an enormous luxury at this price point. Breakfast is available and the kitchen can usually be persuaded to produce a decent meal at other times of day too. The staff are some of the friendliest we encountered anywhere in Uzbekistan — attentive, genuinely helpful and happy to offer advice on getting around the city. It is not in the absolute city centre, but public transport and taxis are cheap and plentiful. For travellers on a modest budget who still want somewhere clean and comfortable, this is a very good option.
Art Hostel Tashkent
Art Hostel Tashkent is the most reviewed hostel in the city and has built its reputation on a combination of central location, friendly staff and a genuinely sociable atmosphere that appeals to independent travellers of all ages. The name gives you a sense of the aesthetic — the common areas are decorated with local artwork and have a relaxed, creative feel that sets it apart from the anonymous bunkroom experience of lesser hostels. Dormitory beds are comfortable and there are private rooms available for those who have outgrown the communal sleeping arrangements but still appreciate the hostel environment. The common room is a good place to meet other travellers and pick up tips about the rest of Uzbekistan, and the staff are knowledgeable about the city and genuinely enthusiastic about helping guests make the most of their time. Free breakfast is offered in some room configurations. The hostel is well-placed for the metro and within walking distance of several of the city’s main sights. For budget travellers, it is the obvious choice.
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