Border crossings reports: Dostyk/Dustlyk (Uzbekistan/Kyrgyzstan)

[Fenna]

I crossed from Kg into Uzbek in August, it went incredibly smooth. I took a marshrutka (I believe #380?) from Osh centre to the border, I arrived there around 0810 orso, the queu was just filling up. I just joined the crowd initially but was very quickly spotted as a tourist and ushered to the front. Kyrgyz and Uzbek customs combined cannot have taken up more than 30 minutes.

On the Uzbek side I was assaulted by countless taxi drivers but I knew there should be a local bus as well. Just glance over to the parking lot on your right (where all the taxis are as well) and you'll see a larger bus parked in the middle of it with 'Andijan' behind the window. Just wait for the bus to fill up and the trip to Andijan take about 40 minutes orso.
In Andijan you are dropped off at a large parking/bus station, where you are assaulted by taxi drivers. I needed a ride to Tashkent and this was the first time during my trip I seriously experienced the downside of not speaking local language/russian... I ended up sharing a taxi with an elderly Uzbek couple and guy in his 30s, who fed me Uzbek food the entire way to Tashkent. It was a very fun experience. Trip to Tashkent took about 8hrs with stops.

(additional tip for those traveling onwards: I was dropped off at Tashkent train station around 16h-ish and was lucky enough to get a ticket for the night train to Buhkara for that same evening still. Pretty sweet to make it from Osh all the way to Bukhara in 24 hrs just traveling on the fly:))

[steven]

There is now a cross-border minibus service, Q&A in this forum thread.

[Bodhi.w]

Hi all. 2 Aussies with a car crossed from Uzbek to kyrg yesterday. Interwstring and slow experience. Took about 3 hrs in total. Waited at closed gate on the kyrg side for about 45 mins. Finally gate opened and drive into an area for token car search. Needed to give copies (they have copiers available) of passports, vehicle ownership and the vehicle permit. Then all clear on Uzbek side and got stamped out.
Another wait at a gate to enter the kyrg side. Passport stamped, token search of the car but then came across a not so friendly customs officer. I had to go into a side room for vehicle permit and gave him my documents which he took his time checking. I don't speak Russian or kryrg so there was a language barrier but he asked usual questions (job, tourist, wife etc). A Russian speaking tourist came in and also spoke to him. Long story and time short, he was after 50usd for 'insurance' to be given to him in a closed passport. The other tourist paid and left, I argued I only had 1,000 som and needed an atm. In hindsight might have been able to pay less, but after 3 hrs was keen to move on. Got my vehicle papers and off we went

[johnbian8308]

Did the crossing today from UZ side. The bus ticket from Andijan is now 5000 som, the price of ticket in Kyrgyz side is still 10 som. The PCR requirement can be done at border on the spot for 1500 kygyz som or use vaccination record to pass it. There is not really a line at each side and I don't remember going through X-ray at Kyrgyz side. Taxi drivers at Krygyz side insist that the 138 bus no longer runs but just ignore them and bus is there. Currency exchange for Uzbek soms aren't bad, with negotiations it is only 1% below what a quick google search shows and I am happy to get rid of them.

[frunze]

I will post here as well: great news, the direct Osh - Andijan minibus is operating again. See here

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11827&p=37635#p37635

I would like to ask one thing, is any worth coming to the border at a weird time (say, very early in the morning) so the queue is shorter?

[Boris]

Just crossed this border yesterday from Uz to Kg (mexican and russian citizens). PCR test is required. They don't care about your vaccination. You can do the rapid test right there. it costs 90-170 thsd uz sum. Also can do the test for 80thsd but it'll take 6 hours to get the results. Crowdy, dirty af. Taxi to Osh from the boarder costs around 200 kg som.

[bonvoyage]

Just crossed this border yesterday from Uz to Kg (mexican and russian citizens). PCR test is required. They don't care about your vaccination. You can do the rapid test right there. it costs 90-170 thsd uz sum. Also can do the test for 80thsd but it'll take 6 hours to get the results. Crowdy, dirty af. Taxi to Osh from the boarder costs around 200 kg som.

I want to cross from KG to UZ and head straight to Tashkent airport to catch a flight. Question is, will the test taken at the border (is it even available going in that direction?) be a PCR test?

I hear it takes like 15 minutes, which is unlikely to be PCR. (But perhaps possible?) Since a PCR test is required to enter Uzbekistan, I'm confused. If it says PCR on the paper you get, it may be good for me for the airport too.

So anyone who has done it, could you please enlighten me? Does the express test result that is accepted by Uzbekistan for entry say PCR on it?

[sebhoff]

This is what it looks like:


So it *does* say PCR-Test (well - PSR... ), but I strongly suspect it isn't.
In your situation, I guess I would do a real PCR-test in Osh.
Sebastian

[Boris]

Just crossed this border yesterday from Uz to Kg (mexican and russian citizens). PCR test is required. They don't care about your vaccination. You can do the rapid test right there. it costs 90-170 thsd uz sum. Also can do the test for 80thsd but it'll take 6 hours to get the results. Crowdy, dirty af. Taxi to Osh from the boarder costs around 200 kg som.

I want to cross from KG to UZ and head straight to Tashkent airport to catch a flight. Question is, will the test taken at the border (is it even available going in that direction?) be a PCR test?

I hear it takes like 15 minutes, which is unlikely to be PCR. (But perhaps possible?) Since a PCR test is required to enter Uzbekistan, I'm confused. If it says PCR on the paper you get, it may be good for me for the airport too.

So anyone who has done it, could you please enlighten me? Does the express test result that is accepted by Uzbekistan for entry say PCR on it?

Of course it's not a PCR=) They don't do testing. All they care about is your money. i cannot answer your question, but i'd highly recommend to do a test in advance before crossing the border (otherwise if you actually need the results you could stuck in between for 6-7 hours). We did our tests in Uzbekistan and had to specify that we needed those tests for the border crossing.

[sebhoff]

No - you definitely don't need a PCR-test for crossing the KG-UZ border. The rapid test is an official requirement - and they do take it relatively seriously (at least when I crossed). But the question was whether this test can be used to board the plane in Tashkent - and in my opinion, this is far too iffy to count on.