Tajikistan - Uzbekistan crossing at Panjakent

[aoeuidhtns]

I crossed into Tajikistan via Jartepa/Panjakent BC at 10am 10/06/24 while travelling Samarkand -> Dushanbe. I did the reverse journey on 14/06/24.

I took a Yandex from my hotel to the border, which was 120k som. Yandex has a weird map of the border and routed me to some farmland adjacent to Jartepa and eventually a dead end, which meant my driver had to turn around. If you select an area a few meters West of Jartepa it saves you 20k som and 10 minutes of driving in the middle of nowhere.

After crossing I took a shared taxi to Dushanbe. The prices seemed somewhat standard (150 somoni pp for a six person car, 200 somoni pp for a four person car), but maybe this was only because it was 10:30am. We had to wait about 40 mins or so for the six person car to fill up with three more people.

We were dropped at the massive share taxi carpark North of Dushanbe, and were immediately approached by a taxi driver saying he'd take us to our hotel for 60 somoni. I had my address and an offline map on Google Maps, but he couldn't do anything with it (even the address in Russian) and got really lost (at one point picking up a random bloke from a bus station to try and guide him). I'd recommend shopping around for taxi drivers to Dushanbe (taxis with professional liveries use a meter app on their phone) and especially knowing some landmarks near your hotel.

Going back to Samarkand I took the Asian Express to Panjakent. The terminal opens for ticket sales at 7am (you can't buy a ticket the day before) and the bus leaves at 8am every day. I got there at 7:35am and the bus was booked out, but they ended up running a second bus. At the bus yard in Panjakent was the same driver (coincidentally) waiting for us, and we paid 80 somoni for five people to drive to the border in a seven-seater.

On the Uzbekistan (Jartepa) side I exchanged my money (I messed up the exchange rate and lost a few dollars) and we took a 'minibus' (the tiny van type) for 10 USD / 125k som for five people to the Registan. I have never seen more drivers competing for us and it was easy to drive down the price, but try to have the numbers written down so you know what to ask for before you're in the chaos.

[borekj]

Confirming this is a fairly easy border crossing.

We were 5 Czech. We took a "minibus" from the bus station to the border, 1 hour, 100k som the vehicle.

Border took all together about 40 minutes, quite a lot of people (9am), but no questions, xrays or anything. Money exchange on the Tajik side, fair rate for usd.

We then took a car all the way to Dushanbe. With the backpacks, we basically took the whole 7seater, even if only 5 people (+driver). I was expecting it would be possible to negotiate about the price a bit, but all the drivers stood firmly on 6*150=900 tjs. It was 600 tjs for a 4 seat car. The only thing we managed to negotiate was that the driver took us all the way to Green House Hostel instead of the bus station in Dushanbe.

Overall, very easy.

[Adam]

On 3 August I travelled pretty painlessly from Samarkand to Dushanbe. At 8am I took a Yandex to the border, where cab drivers offered to take me to my hotel in Dushanbe for 400 som if alone and 200 if sharing with other passengers; I agreed to go with the latter and travelled with an Uzbek couple and their little boy. We passed through customs and immigration into Tajikistan in about twenty minutes where the cab driver reappeared and picked up me and the Uzbek family. There were no money changers there, but the cab driver said he'd accept my Uzbek Somoni. He drove like a psychopath, stopping briefly for water, and delivering us to our respective addresses around 2pm.

[marcxs]

Couldn't find info on opening hours for this crossing. Anyone here has info on those? Or is it a 24h crossing?

[Seasummits_stella]

Crossed the border about a week ago from Samarkand to Panjakent. Took a yandex to the border, about an hour drive. No issue at the border. There was some confusion about visas for Germans in another thread but I can confirm I didn’t need a visa and had no issues crossing on either side, registration slips were also not asked for.
Got a shared taxi on the tadjikan side to panjakent for 20 somoni.
Currency exchange: you need to enter the border and then directly before crossing the actual border line to tadjikistan you’ll pass by currency exchange offices. Don’t be like me and think the uzbekan side is actually before entering the border unless you want to get ripped off by the tourist info on the uzbek side.

[Susiegirl7]

I did a Samarkand to Panjakent/7 Lakes a back day trip about 10 days ago.

Couldn’t get a ride on Yandex to the border so found a taxi on the street. Probably should have tried looking for a Yandex to Kaftarxona. Cab costs 250,000.

On the return, there was a marshrutka directly to Samarkand (fyi: it has limited room for baggage). A little hard to “see” it in the taxi driver scrum but they will take tourists. Cost was 25,000 but possibly the “correct” price is 20,000. It dropped me off near Registan and assume it ends at the bazaar. Question: has anyone taken this marshrutka from Samarkand to Panjakent and have more info.

[Bianca]

This was a fairly straightforward and friendly border crossing in Sep 2024. On the Tajik side a shared taxi to Panjakent town should cost you 15somni each. There are many ATMs and two Tcell shops for sim in Panjakent town. Many taxis waiting to take people straight to Dunsabe as well at the border.

Also just a note: You can register (if you are staying more than 10 days in the country) at the passport office in Panjakent (next to the stadium). They were very helpful. You need to head to the bank to pay your fee, so make sure to show up early afternoon or morning so you have enough time before the bank closes.

[Zentti]

We crossed the border from Panjakent to Samarkand a few days ago.

At the passport control when leaving Tajikistan the officers working tried to make us pay, even though we had stayed in the country just 7 days. We just refused and in the end we didn’t have to pay anything.

There were 4 persons with American passports who had to bride the officers with 150 USD to get their passports stamped. Another guy with a German passport paid 10 €.

Another girl in we met at the border told us that a relative of hers had been asked for bribes on the Uzbek side a few weeks ago. After refusing to pay several times he got his passport stamped after 4 hours.

[amir]

We crossed the border from Panjakent to Samarkand a few days ago.

At the passport control when leaving Tajikistan the officers working tried to make us pay […].

We (EU-Passports, no visa needed for up to 30 days in both, TJ and UZ) crossed there on September 10th 2024. Every single one of the border personell on either side of the border was respectful, seemingly professional and even friendly.

[Stoertebekker]

We (2) did today the UZ-->TJ crossing. Took a Yandex to Kaftarkhona.

At Kaftarkhona there was a little discussion with the following options (I do speak some Russian)
- Minibus with 6 people costs 15k UZS pp. BUT no room for backpacks.
- Car costs 100k UZS. If shared by four, it's 25k pp

One driver was desperately looking for two more passengers. So I got him down to 20k pp. However, I finally gave him the asked 25k. I'm not totally sure, but the two other (local) guys paid 20k.

After the Uzbek customs and before the Tadjik passport control a driver approached us for the drive to Dushanbe. For 150 TJS pp. Again, he was looking for two more passengers to fill the car. I tried to drive down the price, but he stood firm. We accepted. Best decision today. After the Tadjik passport control we got into his car and drove down to Dushanbe, dropping all passengers at their respective addresses. No Tadjik customs, no Marshrutka to Panjakent, no haggling in Panjakent, no additional Taxi in Dushanbe. The other (local) passengers also paid 150 TJS pp.

(On the way he changed money for other passengers, borrowed them his phone [had coverage], found me an ATM. Extremely nice and friendly guy. For phone number see below.)

Today we made it the other way. Metered Taxi in Dushanbe to Terminal for Panjakent cost 36 TJS. At the terminal a lot of haggling, in and out of cars (backpacks always on the seats, never in the trunk) etc. Finally we had 1000 TJS for a middle class car or 150 TJS pp with 4 people in a car, which probably wouldn't make it to Panjakent. Luckily we met two other tourist and negotiated for a pack of four. Ended up with 800 TJS in a Toyota SUV straight to the border. Again great driver. (He told us, that for tomorrow he has a preordered tour from Panjakent to Dushanbe [1300 - 1500 TJS] and had to go anyway.)

Border crossing was smooth and easy. No customs on both sides. Passport control (German, Italian) without any issues.

After the border we again had to haggle a lot. Ended up with four people in a middle class Chevrolet straight to Registan for 150k UZS. The guy was a half professional driver, so a chilling ride.

PS Between the Tadjik and the Uzbek border we again met our driver from the tour to Dushanbe. I asked whether I could recommend him. Fine for him. Here is his number - without any guarantee: +992 92 737 3322. It looks like he is going from Dushanbe to the border in the morning and back as soon as his car is full. Speaks only Tadjik and Russian, but number should work with Whatsapp as well.

(www.alwayseast.de)