"Tashkent - full of life, color and so much charm" Top 5 Page for this destination Tashkent by Trekki

Tashkent Travel Guide: 264 reviews and 578 photos

Tashkent is the city, you’ll most probably arrive and depart from if you plan to visit Uzbekistan.
I was here in summer 2006, in the beginning and end of my trip through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

In the meantime, and generally, please read what Leyle of the WanderingCamels wrote about Tashkent .
She was the one who “brought” me to Uzbekistan and Tashkent with what she wrote here on VT.

A troubled life

and Tashkent - the Beast

As so many other cities of Central Asia, Tashkent didn’t have “a life of it’s own”, but was conquered and reigned by many of the ancient cultures of east or west.
It was first mentioned already quite early, in Chinese manuscripts, as it has an almost perfect location with Tien Shan mountains in the east and the vital line of Syr Darja in the west. Around in 7th century, it was reigned by the Turk Khanates, later on conquered and destroyed by the Arabs and gained a tiny bit of importance in Timurid period, although Timur had chosen Samarkand his capital city. Shaybanids did have another positive influence in 16th century, and later, it was captured by the Amir of Bukhara, but handed over to the Russians end of 19th century, where it did play an important role in what is known today as “The Great Game” – the cold war between Russia and England over property and exploiting of ressources. In Soviet days, it finally “won” over Samarkand and became capital of Uzbek SSR.
Since 1991 and independence of the Central Asia countries, it remained capital of the new state of Uzbekistan.

It did never reach the importance of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara as knots of silk roads, but must have had beautiful buildings in its old days. A lot of them had been destroyed in Soviet times, replaced by ugly monumental architecture.
But the worst fate of Tashkent was the big earthquake of 1966, which left more than 300.000 people homeless and destroyed nearly 40.000 buildings. Rebuilding started slowly, but it was mainly the not very much appealing monumental Soviet cubes that replaced the old buildings.
Now, as Mr. Kharomov has decided to be Mr. Timur’s heir, the building style is more “Uzbek” or modern tradition.

And the modern days

Tashkent welcomes you :-)

Today, Tashkent is a lively city with around 2,1 million of inhabitants, a homogeneous mixture of all ethnic groups, Central Asian, Uzbek, Tajik, Russian, Korean and others. This reflects in the food, you’ll find in bazaars and restaurants and in the cultural development. Many parks invite for relaxing weekends, a huge cultural program is offered in the many theatres and operas, shopping possibilities are endless and a lot of museums invite to teach (or brainwash in the case of Amur Timur Museum…) about Uzbekistans past, present and artwork.

So – go and let’s discover Tashkent and its hidden charm.

.

All pictures have been taken by myself, if not marked otherwise.
Please do not use any of them without my permission.
The same applies for my writings here.
Thanks.

Update: March 2011::
No new tips, just one hotel connected to the one in VT database

Pros and Cons

Pros:Mixture of all ethnic groups - lots of variety in food and entertainment - lovely and open people
Cons:Not that much of ancient architecture, if it is that what you are looking for
In a nutshell:Charming :-)

Last visit to Tashkent: Aug 2006
Intro Updated Mar 16, 2011
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Reviews (37)

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Travelogues (1)

Written Oct 3, 2006

7 photos

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Comments (37)

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GentleSpirit Aug 30, 2012 at 10:41 AM

Ingrid, you put together an excellent set of tips about Tashkent. Really the only thing I knew about Central Asia is the history of fantastic Moslem Architecture. I had to laugh withe the story of waking up and having to drink vodka with ali:)
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  Trekki Aug 30, 2012 at 10:49 AM
  
  Thanks Val for having taken the time for reading about Tashkent :-)) It was @WanderingCamel who brought me there, she loves Central Asia and is often there. Uzbekistan is one of the few Muslim countries where women can travel on their own without being stared at. And Tashkent is (was) really a nice city, especially when I spent the last 5 days there. Without Ali's vodka... yes, that was funny but.... I think I can still feel how drunken I was after that morning :-)
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taigaa001 Aug 17, 2011 at 5:07 AM

Your page is an excellent page to fill in the part of the world I (and maybe large number of Japanese)do not know about. I don't think there is a guidebook for former Soviet republic countries)here in Japan except for "Chikyu-no-Arukikata" series(Japanese counterpart to Lonely Planet).
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lynnehamman Feb 22, 2010 at 5:33 PM

After reading pages of Uzbekistan made by you and Leyle- I must admit this country is calling me too-The architecture, history all is amazing. Great page- Hugs
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MM212 Oct 19, 2009 at 8:25 PM

Fascinating page! I've always been intrigued by Uzbekistan. Will return to read the rest of your pages. best, Momo
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LoriPori Jul 7, 2009 at 2:03 PM

Delightful Tashkent page Ingrid. Great restaurant, shopping and warning tips. I don't think too many could pull the wool over your head - brilliant & quick response to excess kilos (scam). Ah! Ali Guesthouse - truly one-of-a -kind.
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By_darek Jan 25, 2009 at 6:42 AM

price for metro is 300 soums (september 2008). tram ticket is also 300 soums and it is payed to boy who walk through car. also, taxi is very cheap, cca 3000 soum (2$) per car for some 15 min. drive.
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850prc Jun 1, 2008 at 4:39 PM

Interesting peek at a place far, far from Florida, Ingrid. I enjoyed my visit. :) I have to agree with you one thing for sure.... five vodkas to start a day would really make things tough.
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VadimMyasnikov Mar 24, 2008 at 3:13 AM

Really nice comments on Uzbekistan and, particullary, on Tashkent. A pleasure to read them :)
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Zvrlj Dec 23, 2007 at 1:16 PM

If there had not been »Careful –don't get “timurized” in the museum« tip - Ministry of tourism of Uzbekistan should have considered hiring you ;-) Great page, as usual.
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Tarhad Oct 22, 2007 at 1:31 AM

I've been in Uzbekistan Hotel twice. It was nice and clean. Single room was only $35 for the shower version, and you can go for the $50 if you need a tube in your bathroom.