 Samarkand's modern station. Courtesy of Alan Saunders. |
See Uzbekistan by train!
Uzbekistan has a good rail network, trains are the ideal way to travel between Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara and (since 2018) Khiva.
Train
times, Tashkent to Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva
Book a tour of Uzbekistan by train
On other pages
London, Paris &
Moscow to Tashkent by train
Useful country information
|
Train operator: |
|
railway.uz. Buy tickets at 12go.asia |
|
Time zone: |
GMT+5 all year. |
|
|
Dialling code: |
|
+998 |
|
Currency: |
£1 = 15,000 Som. €1 = 13,300 Som. $1 = 12,900 Som. Currency converter |
|
|
Visas: |
From February 2019, UK & many other western nationals no longer need a visa for stays up to 30 days. |
|
|
Tourist information: |
||
|
Travel advice: |
Check with the Foreign Office's travel advice website, www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/uzbekistan for travel advice. They advise against all but essential travel to parts of Uzbekistan near the Afghan border. |
|
|
Page last updated: |
5 June 2026 |
Tashkent to Samarkand & Bokhara
Taking the train is the best way to go between Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara & Khiva. Here's a summary of main trains, shaded = Afrosiyob high-speed trains built by Talgo or the new Jaloliddin Manguberdi high-speed train built by Hyundai.
Notes for timetable
Trains 709, 710, 711 & 712 = Sharq, classic air-conditioned train, runs daily, see the photos below.
Trains 703, 715 & 716 = Nasaf, classic air-conditioned train, runs daily.
Trains 54, 55, 56, 58, 72, 125, 126 have spalny vagon (lux) 2-berth sleepers, kupé 4-berth sleepers, some have platskartny open-plan bunks.
Trains 751 & 752 = Jaloliddin Manguberdi = new 250 km/h high-speed air-conditioned train built by Hyundai, Economy & VIP class, usually fully-booked!
Trains 759 to 780 = Afrosiyob = 250 km/h high-speed air-conditioned Talgo 250 train, highly recommended, introduced 2012 & extended to/from Bokhara in 2016, with VIP class, Business class and Economy class plus a restaurant car. See the Afrosiyob photos below.
Where two train numbers are shown, the number depends on the day of the week.
Urgench used to be the railhead for Khiva 35 km away, but the railway was extended to a new station at Khiva in 2018. The new Khiva station is a 30-minute walk from the Itchan Khala at the heart of the city.
See rail map of Uzbekistan, zoom in to see station locations & branch line to Khiva.
Check these times at the Uzbek Railways website railway.uz or eticket.railway.uz (change Ozbek'tili to English top right) or at 12go.asia. There are several other irregular trains on this route, I've only shown the main ones here. Uzbekistan Railways has an excellent app, download for your phone.
How much does it cost?
Tashkent - Samarkand by Afrosiyob high-speed train costs 311,000 som in Economy, 455,000 som in Business, 709,000 som in VIP.
Tashkent - Samarkand by Sharq costs 200,060 in 2nd class, 300,560 in 1C (1st class), 566,450 in 1B (extra-spacious 1st class).
Tashkent - Samarkand by Nasaf costs 200,060 in 2nd class on open plan seats or 3 or 6 seat compartments, no 1st class on this train.
Tashkent - Bukhara by Afrosiyob high-speed train costs 509,000 som in Economy, 760,000 som in Business, 1,138,000 som in VIP.
Tashkent - Bukhara by Sharq costs 276,820 in 2nd class, 421,050 in 1C (1st class), 808,830 in 1B (extra-spacious 1st class).
Tashkent - Bukhara by sleeper train costs 177,990 in platskartny, 243,750 in kupé 4-berth or 430,850 som in 2-berth Spalny Vagon (Lux).
Tashkent - Khiva by Jaloliddin Manguberdi high-speed train costs 780,000 som in Economy, 1,815,000 som in VIP.
Tashkent - Khiva by sleeper train costs 245,140 in platskartny, 348,550 in kupé 4-berth or 640,390 som in 2-berth Spalny Vagon (Lux).
£1 = approx 16,000 Som. $1 = approx 12,000 Som. €1 = 14,000 som. Fares can be checked at railway.uz or eticket.railway.uz.
How to buy tickets
-
Option 1, buy tickets at 12go.asia.
You can book tickets for most Uzbek trains through reliable agency 12go.asia.
You order online with instant confirmation, overseas payment cards no problem.
Booking opens 60 days ahead, you can't book before booking opens. But book a week or two ahead at least, as trains can sell out.
-
Option 2, buy tickets at www.bookaway.com.
You can book tickets for both the premier Afrosiyob and the main sleeper trains at www.bookaway.com, another reliable train, ferry & bus booking agency, also without any payment problems. As with 12go, all the main cities/routes are covered, but not all routes.
-
Option 3, buy tickets at the Uzbekistan Railways website eticket.railway.uz.
You can also book at the Uzbekistan Railways website eticket.railway.uz.
Change Ozbek'tili to English top right, if the booking system slips back into Russian, use Google Translate or the Chrome browser translation feature to help with anything it doesn't show in English.
SV = 2-bed 1st class sleeper. Kupe = 2nd class 4-berth sleeper. Sleeper = platskartny, inexpensive open-plan bunks.
Booking opens 60 days ahead, sometimes less. You can't book before booking opens. Afrosyob trains sell out fast, sometimes soon after booking opens, conventional and sleeper trains less quickly.
Traveller Nigel Moores' advice: "I booked all the trains directly on the Uzbekistan railways website. The English version does the transliteration to Cyrillic without any problems. In Tashkent, you need to check carefully whether the station for your train is the central station or South (Yuzhniy) as it's a 7 km taxi or bus ride between the two. Tickets are printed in Cyrillic."
You can also download the Uzbekistan Railways app for iPhone & Android. You can book in the app and show tickets on your phone.
-
Option 4, book a tour of Uzbekistan with trains included
Tailor Made Rail offer a tour to Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara & Samarkand with train travel, transfers, hotels & flights from the UK included, see below.
Station locations
Security at stations is fairly tight, you will need to show a ticket and possibly passport to enter the station, and there's a security check before boarding the train. So arrive at the station in good time!
Tashkent main station location Tashkent Yuzhnny (South) location
Samarkand station location Bukhara 1 station location Khiva station location
Afrosiyob high-speed trains, trains 759-780
Afrosiyob trains are Uzbekistan's premier trains, shown as shaded in the timetable above. They are 250km/h articulated trains built by the Spanish Talgo company, linking Tashkent with Samarkand in just 2½ hours. Named after the oldest part of the ancient settlement of Samarkand, the train has VIP (premium 1st), Business (1st class) & Economy (2nd class, pictured below) and a restaurant car. VIP seats are leather and arranged 2+1 across the car width. Business seats are fabric, and arranged 2+1 across the car width. Economy seats are fabric and 2+2 across the car width.
An Afrosiyob train. Courtesy Sebastian Pintilie.
Afrosiyob at Samarkand station. Photo courtesy of Fiona Fitz.
Sharq, trains 709-712
The Sharq. Photo courtesy of Gino
Uzbek sleeper train
These have the usual Russian-style sleeper accommodations: 2-berth sleepers known as Spalny Vagon (SV or Lux), 4-berth sleepers known as Kupé and (on some trains) Platskartny, which consists of open-plan sleeping-berths.
A 4-berth soft sleeper on sleeper train 58. Photos courtesy of Anton Pavlovski.
Travellers' reports
Traveller Nigel Moores reports (2019): "We travelled by train from Andijon to Tashkent and then on to Khiva and back to Tashkent via Bukhara and Samarkand. The train service was excellent throughout. Highly recommended. Despite the long journeys only 1 of the trains was late and then only by 20 minutes. The fares are very reasonable and unless you are travelling on a really tight budget it is worth getting the best class available. The new line linking Pop and Andgren is spectacular (see attachment). We did not use the Afrosiyob trains at all because for the journeys we wanted they sold out straight away. To judge from what we saw this was due to block bookings by tour groups. As it happened the regular trains were only marginally slower, probably less cramped and a more "authentic" experience. Food and drink were available on all the trains either in a restaurant car or from enterprising vendors."
Traveller Mark Pascoe travelled from Tashkent to Samarkand on the Afrosiyob. "As part of an official delegation visiting the country my ticket was purchased on my behalf, however I also dealt with Advantour in a personal capacity and found them to be extremely helpful and professional despite the fact that I didn't end up using their services at all. I took the 8am departure arriving at the station in plenty of time to pass through security. The train was ready early and we were able to board at around 7.30am. The train staff welcomed us on board and looked great in their winter uniforms replete with fur hats and jackets. The train was clean and pleasant and wouldn't have looked out of place in western Europe. It is of course, Spanish built, indeed it was tidier and in better condition than many TGVs I have travelled on. The seats were very spacious and comfortable with plenty of legroom and lots of overhead storage, large enough to handle bit suitcases. The journey was largely smooth and uneventful. Even in economy class we were served tea and a small snack of a banana flavour doughnut shortly after departing Tashkent, I suppose that any class of ticket on the Afrosiyob is significantly more expensive than the slow trains and. If possible, get a seat on the left hand side (if travelling west) of the train when travelling in this direction as that side of the train is flanked by impressive mountains for much of the route. The train ran to time and arrived in Samarkand on schedule - on leaving the station you will be met by plenty of touts offering taxis and tourist services."
Book a tour of Uzbekistan by train
Rail travel specialist Tailor Made Rail (Tailormaderail.com) offers a semi-independent tour of Uzbekistan by train, with transfers and private tour guides included, with a good amount of time for relaxing and sightseeing at your own pace. It includes a combination of Tashkent-Khiva sleeper train daytime Afrosyob trains and takes you to Tashkent, Khiva, Bokhara & Samarkand. Flights from London are included. You can decide for yourself when you want to go and can customise the package to your own requirements.
See tailormaderail.com/itinerary/uzbekistan-along-the-silk-road-by-rail.
Call the dedicated seat61 phone line 020 3778 1461 and quote seat 61. Lines open 09:00-17:30 Monday-Friday.
From outside the UK call +44 20 3778 1461.
Suggested hotels
Hotels in Tashkent
Near the station: To be close to Tashkent's main railway station, perhaps for an early train departure or late arrival, the very inexpensive Qo'noq Railway Hotel gets great reviews it's adjacent to the station and to the metro for easy access to the city centre. Alternatively, the upmarket Mir Luxe Plaza also gets great reviews, comes with an indoor swimming pool and is a 14 minute 1 km walk from the station. Also try the Manor Hotel, a 9-minute 650m walk from the station towards the city centre.
In the city centre: A top choice at the upmarket end is the Lotte City Hotels Tashkent Palace, in the heart of the city with a review score over 9/10 and an outdoor swimming pool. Opened in 1958 and one of the oldest hotels in Uzbekistan, it's 3 km from Tashkent station, but 500m from Mustakillik Maydoni metro station. For something cheaper but still over 9/10 review score, try the Ninety Boutique Hotel.
Hotels in Samarkand
Near the station: If you need to be near the station, look no further than the inexpensive Rayyan Hotel, just 120m from Samarkand's main station with an outdoor pool and a review score over 9/10. But bear in mind that Samarkand's sights are some way from the station, for example Registan Square is over 6 km away.
In the city centre: The Kohinur Plaza Hotel is relatively inexpensive by western standards, gets over 9/10 review score and comes with an outdoor pool. To stay right next to the world-famous Registan Square, try the Minor Hotel, Hotel Registan Palace, K'ok Saroy Plaza Hotel or Mozaic Boutique Hotel, all inexpensive with great review scores.
Hotels in Bokhara
Near the station: If you need to be near the station, try the inexpensive and well-reviewed Avenue Hotel, a 6-minute 450m walk from Bukhara 1 station. But bear in mind that Bukhara's sights are some way from the station, the old city is 12 km away.
In the historic old city: To stay in the heart of the historic old city near the sights, try the Duston Boutique XIX century rooms, Turkman Madrasah XIX Century Hotel or Layali Boutique Terrace & Café.
Hotels in Khiva
Near the station: If you need to be near the station, try the Said Islom Khoja (with swimming pool) or cheaper Umar Hotel, both well-reviewed and just outside Khiva railway station. In Khiva, the old city is only about 1.5 km from the station.
In the historic old city: The upmarket Erkin Palace Hotel gets great reviews and is just outside the old walled city, a 26-minute 1.9 km walk or short taxi ride from Khiva station. The Hotel Asia Khiva is in a similar category and location, also well-reviewed, with swimming pool. To stay inside the historic walled city itself, try the inexpensive Khiva Siyovush Hotel, Arkanchi Boutique Hotel, or Feruzkhan Hotel - Madrassah Mohammed Rakhim Khan 1871. All these hotels get great reviews and are about a 28 minute 2 km walk from the station.
Backpacker
hostels
www.hostelworld.com: If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelworld offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in most cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance & other tips
|
|
|
|
|
Always take out travel insurance
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover cancellation and loss of cash and belongings, up to a sensible limit. An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip policies even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy with Staysure.co.uk myself. Here are some suggested insurers. Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these links.
www.staysure.co.uk
offers enhanced Covid-19 protection & gets 4.7 out of 5 on
Trustpilot.
www.columbusdirect.com
is also a well-know brand.
If you live in the USA try
Travel Guard USA.
|
|
Get an eSIM with mobile data package
Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a European mobile data package and stay connected. Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM including iPhone 11 & later, see device compatibility list. There's no need to buy a physical SIM card! Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a 4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and a range of packages including unlimited data.
|
|
Get a Curve card for foreign travel
Most banks give you a poor exchange rate, then add a foreign transaction fee on top. A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month at time of writing. The money you spend on your Curve card goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards.
How it works: 1. Download the Curve app for iPhone or Android. 2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses. 3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card. 4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app. You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.
I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader. The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than digging a card out). I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend it here because I think it's great. See details, download the app and get a Curve card, they'll give you £5 cashback through that link.
|
|
Get a VPN for safe browsing. Why you need a VPN
When you're travelling you often use free WiFi in public places which may not be secure. A VPN encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi. It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply. See VPNs & why you need one explained. ExpressVPN is a best buy with a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go with expressvpn.com using the links on this page, you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription. I get a small commission to help support this site.
|
|
Carry an Anker powerbank
Tickets, reservations, vaccination records and Interrail or Eurail passes are often held digitally on your mobile phone, so it's vital to keep it charged. I always carry an Anker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over if I can't get to a power outlet. Buy from Amazon.co.uk or from buy from Amazon.com.
Touring cities? Use hill walking shoes!
One of the best things I've done is swap my normal shoes for hill-walking shoes, in my case from Scarpa. They're intended for hiking across the Pennines not wandering around Bangkok, but the support and cushioning for hiking works equally well when you're on your feet all day exploring foreign cities. My feet used to give out first and limit my day, now the rest of me gives up before they do!