Is the road, border or area open and accessible to foreigners? Is there danger?
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hitchhaning wrote:Same here. Crossing from Uzbekistan to Osh, the Uzbeki guards may not be the most joyful people in the world, but they sure weren't looking to put us in any sort of trouble. All they wanted was to briefly see the medication, asked if we carried any books with us and what was the content of my laptop (didn't want to switch it on, though).
The Kyrgyz part was the most smiling border I've seen so far
Taxi from Andijan train station to the border cost us 20 000 som/ 5$ per person in a shared taxi. After the Kyrgyz border, pass the dozens of taxi drivers to find a marshrutka going to Osh bazaar for 10 som.
Hi Hitchaning,
Understanding that you arrived from Kyrgzstan, would you be willing to share your itinerary? Also, would you happen to have the itinerary for Uzbekistan as well?
I will be travelling to that region next week and would definitely appreciate your advice on this matter!
I crossed yesterday the border from Osh to Andijon. On the kirgiz side very quickly, they made some joke in italian, smiling. The first uzbek guard, after checking my passport, told me to wait; he came outside of the cabinet...for a selfie with me
In the Uzbek side they checked the passport; I filled the paper for foreign currency and electronical goods. Then they put the backpack under the scanner and they asked me for books, always in a kindly way. They looked briefly at my books, watched the last pictures in the camera, asking me where I took those pictures, more curious than suspicious. In last the asked me for any medicine and my answer "I don't have medicine, I'm healthy!" was enough. Welcome to Uzbekistan!
After a quick bargain I got a ride for 25.000 uzbek som to Andijon, I was alone in the taxi
Understanding that you arrived from Kyrgzstan, would you be willing to share your itinerary? Also, would you happen to have the itinerary for Uzbekistan as well?
I will be travelling to that region next week and would definitely appreciate your advice on this matter!
Thank you
Hey CarlosMonasterios,
So sorry, I just saw your message now... I don't know if I can still be helpful, but in Uzbekistan we only had the 3 day transit visa, so the itinerary was: taxi from Turkmen border to Khiva and sightseeing, then to Urgench, night train to Samarkand, a long beautiful day spent there, train to Tashkent, train to Andijan, cross border with Kyrgyzstan.
About Kyrgyzstan - we were there in the middle of winter and had the best time around Issyk-Kul. We also spent some time volunteering in Jalal-Abad, and making day trips from Bishkek, where we stayed with friends. I'm not sure if you can benefit so much from this info
Hope you have great travels!
Just crossed the border 2 days ago at the dostyk crossing with a rental car. Everything worked out fine and in 3,5 hours we crossed the border. 45 dollars for importing the vehicle and that's it. Friendly border guards.
I crossed the border on 11 August from Andijon (Uzbekistan) to Osh (Kyrgyzstan). It was very easy and simple!
Got the train from Tashkent to Andijon (6 hours approx) then got a taxi to the border (cars were waiting at the train station and asked if I wanted to go to the border).
At the Uzbek side of the border the guards were very friendly. Talked about Melbourne and the Australian Open. Looked through bags but didn't check very thoroughly. Didn't ask to see phones or cameras for pictures - all very civilised and easy. Kyrgz side of the border was even simpler - walked up to the guard and handed passport, he stamped and we were on our way.
Several marhrutkas go up to the border, from Osh. 10 som.
I was there at 9:30. Already a noticeable queue, but not that bad. Kyrgyz are civilised and wait their turn. I recommend to be much earlier (more info below...).
Kyrgyz control is a breeze. Stamp and go.
Then comes the sketchy part: around three hours waiting for the Uzbek immigration, under unforgiving sun. I was lucky and joined a group of sneaky Britons who asked permission to jump the queue and entered directly. If you can or want not do that, be prepared for hell.
After stamping, the declaration of goods (do not forget to produce two identical slips).
Then bag check: easy. Just asked for books and antibiotics. Controlled in a flimsy way, just to check the box.
Outside, a sea of taxi offers. I got 10USD for a shared taxi to Ferghana.
10 som bus to dostuk border, arrived at 1030am, later than we planned so there was a decently long queue leaving Kyrgyzstan. Queued for an hour without considerable movement, before negotiating with the guards to let us cut the queue as tourists.
Straghtforward crossing leaving Kyrgyzstan as expected. There are a few duty free shops right after where you can change money "unofficially" at excellent new bank rates (500 kgs for 60000 uzs, not sure about other currencies). The currency exchange rates before leaving Kyrgyzstan are about 20% less than the bank rate.
No queues entering Uzbekistan immigration and customs were straightforward too, fill in 2 declaration forms and get them stamped. For whatever reason our bags were not checked at all and we were ushered through within 5 minutes. Unexpected!
We opted for the cheaper option to get to tashkent, hence negotiated a car share to Andijon first for 10,000 uzs pp. Get off near the train station, and find the Makro Pushkin (supermarket), where you can find shared taxis to Tashkent. Only managed to negotiate for 50,000 uzs pp, 5.5 hours drive with stops to Tashkent.
Crossing into Uzbekistan from Osh and onwards to Fergana in September 2017
I got to the border at around 8a. Already a significant crowd in front of the Kyrgyz border gate; more significantly, a #very slow# moving crowd. So better arrive earlier than I did. A border guard told me it's basically the same no matter which day.
There are a couple of foreign exchange offices right in front of the border entry gate - I suggest to get some UZS in order to pay for onward transportation, ignoring the fact that the exchange rate there is not the world's best. Also be aware that you may find it difficult to exchange money within Uzbekistan on week ends, so plan accordingly.
It took me more than 90 minutes to pass the entry gate into the Kyrgyz emigration area. Lots of shoving and pushing, lots of body contact; especially elderly ladies were moving quite confidently.
In a sense, it's when queuing that the teachings of the predominant faith in this part of the world tend to break down - teachings which stress separation of sexes, and certainly avoiding of touching between the sexes, as I understand it. Note, however, that once I exited Kyrgyzstan and arrived on the Uzbek side of the border, the Uzbek border guards made sure orderly lines were made, with one line for women, one for men, as one would expect and hope for.
Back to the Kyrgyz side: as you approach the border entry gate, there is a small gate on the left for incoming foot traffic, a small gate on the right for outgoing foot traffic (the long, chaotic, slow moving queue), and a large gate in the middle for vehicular traffic.
If you're a foreign tourist (or handicapped, or carry a baby, or best all of the above) you may approach the large middle gate and hope the border guard will let you in eventually, thereby bypassing the long chaotic queue. I certainly saw a Western couple do exactly that. As I was not in a hurry, and also on some strange personal moral grounds, I stuck to the regular queue together with everybody else.
Once inside the actual border area things went very smoothly. Stamping out on the Kyrgyz side, quick walk to the Uzbek side, getting stamped into Uzbekistan, filling out the Uzbek customs form (Russian only; apparently they keep the expensive English-version form at airports only - ask a border guard for help as I did), then getting the form stamped, onwards through the X-ray machine, then to the manual baggage inspection where - nothing was searched at all! In fact, my bags were not even opened, and no medication was checked or even mentioned, even though my customs form certainly listed a lot of line items. So the Uzbek border experience apparently #can# be quite a pleasant one - perfectly fast, and well organized, in my case.
I took a personal taxi (not shared) with a nice English speaking driver from the border directly to Fergana and paid the driver 250K UZS, around 30 USD at that time. You should be able to get a lower price if you prefer to bargain; I simply told the price I was willing to pay (as I always do) based on an expected travel time of 3 hours and other information I've read on this forum, but it turns out you get into Fergana in less than two hours on excellent roads.
Crossed on October 1st on a bike. Very good experience, they let me in through a gate in front of others, then again after I filled in the customs paper.. no single look in my bags, phone, camera or medicine.. simply-that is all, thank you!
hey guys - crossed from fergana to osh yesterday and that's how it went:
1) fergana - andijan
avtobus/mashrutka from avtovokzal just north of the bazaar - one ticket is 5000
2) andijan - border
super easy: at the avtovokzal direct transfer to another mashrutka that goes straight to the border point called dostuk (the
pronounce it dostik) - one ticket just
2000
3) at the border
everything was super straight forward. we got the tourist bonus and could skip the line - you fill in the costums form once again
(just check 'departure' instead). nobody wanted to see our registration slips or anything else
you can exchange money at the kyrgyz side of
the border:
besides usd, eur, and rub also uzbek som - poor rates but at least you can get rid of your
remaining uzbek money (we had 10'000 uzbek som left and thus got by far enough kyrgyz som for a bus ticket to osh)
4) border - osh
again super easy!! there runs a big(!) public
bus #2 right from the border to osh bazaar passing popular hostels like biy ordo (dorm 600 + 150 breakfast), tes guest house (800 incl breakfast) and osh backpackers (400 no breakfast) - the ticket was 13 kyrgyz som
