Tashkent Airport to Train Transfer

[btlee55]

Hi all,

I am planning to fly into Tashkent on an int'l flight landing 13:00. I want to catch the train leaving Tashkent for Nukus at 16:50 the same day.

Is this enough time for immigration, customs, and transport to the train station? Or am I cutting it too close? I am planning to bring only a carryon bag, if baggage claim makes a big difference. Thanks for your help!

[mpkz]

Based on my limited experience (serious disclaimer, I'm just a traveler here), I would not recommend it but if you are well prepared, it is doable. The airport and the train station are not far away from each other (like 4km). However, my warnings would be: clearing customs etc. can take a long time in Tashkent Airport, and officially according to your train ticket you need to arrive 30 minutes before the train departs - there are a lot of security checks at the train station. Have you bought your ticket already? guessing since you are arriving internationally you haven't - the good news is you can buy it at the station and by using the "Hall of Luxury for Train Passengers" at the train ticket office which charges a little bit extra per ticket you can get it quite quick, the bad news is that availability of tickets can be quite poor.

If you clear customs etc quite fast, there's a direct bus from the airport to the train station operating fairly regularly. The bus stop is located just straight out of the terminal, walk past the car park. Otherwise, a taxi will rip you off (learn the Uzbek terms for 5000 and 10000 really helps bring down taxi prices in my experience though).

You'll also have a problem with money. There are no black market exchanges at the airport and while there might be someone at the station it's not guaranteed - look for guys holding black plastic bags. You need som to pay for the bus and the train ticket, your credit card won't work. One option is of course to change something like 50 euros at the official exchange rate at the airport or exchange with a taxi (you will not get a good rate, but it will be better than the official one) and just use that money for the train. The black market rate right now seems to be about 4500 by the way, though it's not as easy to get that as it was last week. Official rate is 2570 or so.

[steven]

It's a little bit risky but it's definitely doable. I assume you will have booked your train ticket in advance. If you arrange a transfer in advance with a tour company, their driver can get you there quickly and will also be able to change your dollars to som at the black market rate so you can buy some sunflower seeds to chew on on the train.