Oybek - Buston (UZ-TAJ) border crossing

[Van_Gogh]

Crossed the border from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan without any problems with my own car.

The exit from Tajikistan is straightforward, took less than 30 minutes for everything.

Uzbek side was crowded, but I was allowed to skip the line. Just wave around with your passport and say "tourist". Car wasn't searched, but one officer wanted to charge 7,000 sum for the desinfection. He showed me a piece of paper with official stamps and the prices for different processes, but I refused to pay as I haven't paid anything when I entered Uzbekistan from Turkmenistan. He did not discuss with me and let me go, because it's clear that it is a fake.
I didn't need to fill out a declaration.

[smoke-bellew]

Hello.
I confirm the existence of a bus between Tashkent and Khodjent.
It is taken to the bus station of Sobir Rahimov near the subway of the same name
The price in july 2018 is 50000 sums

[robert]

Crossed from UZ to TJ with our own car.

On Uzbek side we had an interesting situation: we didn't give the car documents to the border post, and he didn't ask for them. It took him very long, he had a phone call and discussions with his colleagues, but he didn't talk to us about it. In the end, they let us go without the car. At customs, they noticed their error. We had to go to the other side to stamp in again, then stamp out with the car on the exit side. So it seems that, at least in theory, you can leave Uzbekistan without taking your car with you.

Tadjik side was quick and easy. However, they asked for 10 USD for "disinfection", but let us go without paying after brief discussion.

[jeanjacques]

I did that yesterday, August 20th 2018.
Yes, there is a bus which goes directly from Tashkent to Khujand. It leaves from the Sobir Rahimov bus station, but do not look for a metro station of the same name, there is none. The metro station is Olmazor, completely in the southwest of Tashkent. (ref. Lonely planet june 2018, page 215 has a plan of the Tashkent metro). The price is 50000 som so C$8.35. there is only one bus a day and it leaves at 18:00 (do not get there at the last minute. Yesterday it left the station at 17:52). It is a Tajik company called Asiangroup and it is a very new and comfortable bus. Do not pay attention to the taxi drivers in front of the station who will tell you that there is no bus and offer their services to the border, or even to the driver of a bus for Samarkand who will tell you that you have to go through Samarkand to enter Tajikistan. There is a closed metal gate for vehicles, but on the left side it is open for pedestrians. Go about 50 meters and turn right and you will be right in front of the ticket office. I think the wicket for Khujand is the second one, but it is written above it. Just give your money and your passport and tell the employee which day you want to go. To exit Uzbekistan, we were asked to get off the bus with our baggage, but to my knowledge no baggage was checked. It took 2 minutes at the passport control to stamp the passport then back in the bus to the Tajik side where it is the same procedure there, except we did not even have to take our baggage off the bus. The Tajik officer even said bonjour when he saw my French passport. Exiting Uzbekistan and entering Tajikistan for a whole busload took in all 50 minutes. Painless. No forms, no currency or prescription questions, no hotel slips to show and no camera or laptop pictures viewed. We arrived in Khujand at 22:00. The whole trip in 4 hours. The bus station is is the middle of nowhere in Khujand, but there are plenty of taxis. Something I had never seen before happened. There was a problem with my guesthouse which did not answer the phone as the taxi driver did not know where it was. We decided to go there, and the guesthouse finally called to say that there was a problem in the family and could not honor the reservation, but made arrangements for another place. I only had Uzbek soms (useless there) and dollars. When everything was sorted out, I wanted to give the taxi driver $10, but he would not take it and took only $3. Tajikistan is the 50th country I travelled to and I have never seen that before. I cannot guarantee it will happen to you, but that give you an idea of how nice the people of Central Asia are.

[bhorn]

Just arrived at my hostel after taking this bus today. Went pretty much exactly as @jeanjacques said.

Booked my ticket the day before by going to the station next to Olmazar (shown as Автовокзал "Ташкент" on OSM). They write your name down on a list of passengers and give you a receipt with the date of your journey on it and a seat number. (The buses to Bishkek, Almaty and Shymkent also seem to go from here)

Today I just went to the station an hour before and looked around. The bus is hiding behind the corner until about 17:45, then it comes to the main area to let the passengers on. Left about 17:55 for me, but it dropped by the the food stall in the station for a minute or two to let people pick up stuff. On the way out of Tashkent it also stopped by a watermelon stall on the side of the road and quite a few people bought some.

Border crossing was fine. Fairly professional, took about an hour and ten minutes to pass through.

The bus drops you off at the North station, shown as Рохи Абрешим Автостанция on OSM. Loads of taxi drivers there. Had a local sort out getting my taxi. They didn't seem too keen on getting dollars though. Brought up Russian rubles but I didn't have any.

Cost me $4, but I was driven to someone the driver knew to exchange which sketched me out. Rate was 1USD to 10TJS, which I think is better than the official rate. Thought they were trying to get 100 dollars or something like that out of me, but worked out in the end. (I heard 100, thinking they wanted 100 dollars, when that was the amount of TJS being given to me for my $10)

Overall pleasant journey. Was offered a place to stay by the guy sitting next to me on the bus and all the locals were helpful in getting me to my hostel.

[ejcraft]

When everything was sorted out, I wanted to give the taxi driver $10, but he would not take it and took only $3. Tajikistan is the 50th country I travelled to and I have never seen that before. I cannot guarantee it will happen to you, but that give you an idea of how nice the people of Central Asia are.

I think you found the only honest taxi driver in Tajikistan!

[Nickvangaans]

Thanks for the information! I went to get the ticket yesterday for the bus today. I spend almost one hour looking for the ticket office, but found it after all;
If you get out of the metro, cross the road, walk all the way to the end of the parking to the right, there are stairs to a tunnel, go in and at some point you go left. At the end of the tunnel you take the stairs on your left. Then you follow the green wall on your right and at the end you will find the gate you can read about above. Great service at the ticketoffice, I don’t think it is necessary to buy the ticket in advance; I wass there around 4pm, the bus leaves at 6pm, and for yesterday the list with names wasn’t halfful..

[MarieEmilie]

Crossed the Oybek border today. Went with the direct bus from Tashkent to Khudjent (50 000 som, from Tashkent Avtovokzal near the Olmazar metro station, it's not the Sabir Rahimov shared taxis station as mentionned in other posts, the name on maps.me is Tashkent avtovokzal). Took 3 hours in total. Ouzbek border : they only checked my passport, visa and stamped it. Just put the backpack on the xray, nothing more (didn't ask for any registration). Tadjik side : they only checked passport + visa, didn't check any bags, didn't ask any question. Super smooth and quick !

[RICKYbauer]

Hello,
Can you tell me when the bus leave from Tashkent station to Khujand? it was very early?
I have checked all pieces of information that I can, unfortunately, it is not mentioned.
So thank you if you can tell me more details about the timetable

[B7474U3]

I used this crossing in both directions earlier in the month. It was straight-forward in both directions, taking no more than 15 minutes (there were no queues / trucks / coaches...etc when I crossed).

All staff I encountered on both the Uzbek side and Tajik side were polite and professional.

There were a lot of people on both the Uzbek side and Tajik side offering taxi services. I didn't enquire as I already had transport booked.