Tajikistan - Uzbekistan crossing at Panjakent

[bwv812]

100 Somoni for the whole car to Dushanbe? That's crazy.That's about how much one seat from Penjikent to Dushanbe was in 2012.

[Maddy]

Hi all,
My cousin and I also travelled from Samarkand to Dushanbe via Panjikeng yetserday.
From Samarkand we got a shared taxi at Kafta Xona shared taxi stop about 10min taxi trip from the old city in Samarkand (20000 som).
The crossing was itself was fast, smooth and very friendly on the Tajekistan side there were plenty of cars waiting, we got a taxi to Dushanbe, though we did stop in Panjikent where we changed money over and were swapped to a different car. We were charged 120Som (approx $13) each , which we know was too much but we didn't have a lot of scope to bargain.

[goudan.cn]

Hi all
Today I acrossed the border. First, in samarkand, take share taxi in the registon bekati(bus stop) to “кафтархона” bus station in the east of the city(3000 uz som), and then from there take share minibus to the border(5000 uz som), and walk 1km to the passport control. X ray scan your bag and stamp on your visa and then after Tajikistan passport control, you can take share taxi to penjikent(10 tjk som), in the penjikent bazar you can money exchange, very good rate. Do not exchange money in the both side of the border. Near the bazar, good local food.
Then walk 2km to the bus station only share taxi from penjikent to dushanbe. (75 tjk som)
Good luck.

[timbo]

Hi,

We just crossed from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan at Penjikent a few days ago. It was one of the smoothest border crossings i've ever done. Through in about half an hour, the Uzbek immigration didn't ask for any proof that we had stayed in hotels and waved us to the front of all lines ( I assume because we were tourists). The tajik border guards were the nicest we've ever met, giving us recommendations and telling us we were the first Australians to cross at Penjikent! Not at all how we thought an Uzbek boarder crossing would go!

[sfmateo]

Crossed from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan at Penjikent today.

At about 8:30 AM, I caught minibus in front of the Registan (other side of the street) to Kafta Xona (кафтархона) bus station. As soon as I crossed the street there was a minibus waiting - I didn't even have to go back into the main area with all the other minibuses and taxis to figure it out. We left about a minute later and were at the "bus station" (didn't see any buses, just lots of minibuses) in maybe ten or fifteen minutes. I didn't ask the price, but just handed him 2000 som, and he took it.

As soon as I got out of the minibus, a driver approached. He was heading to the border. We used "Penjikent" when discussing, even though Penjikent is in Tajikistan and we obviously wouldn't be going that entire way. I mention that only because my hotel manager had said I'd need to use the name of the town on the Uzbek side, which I no longer remember. The cost of the ride was 20,000 som. I can't remember exactly how long it took. 45 mins?

The border crossing was more or less as others here have reported, with one exception: AN UZBEK GUARD ASKED ME REPEATEDLY IF I HAD ANY MONEY. When I looked confused (I was), he said 100? 200? Then I realized he was hoping for a bribe. I then deliberately feigned not to understand, and instead pretended I thought I was asking about my visa. I told him I already had one, and showed him. He dropped the issue of the money. Otherwise, no surprises and very quick - one small group ahead of me, but no line. The Tajik guard welcomed me three times I think - all smiles and very friendly! The whole crossing took about 15 mins. Super quick.

When I got out of my taxi on the Uzbek side, several money changers descended upon me. I wasn't ready to deal with that yet - I just wanted to get through the border crossing. That was a mistake: for some reason, THERE WERE NO MONEY CHANGERS ON THE TAJIK SIDE. Oops! No idea if that's always the case (seems odd), or if I just had bad luck. However, my luck quickly turned when a driver agreed to accept my Uzbek money. I paid 100,000 Uzbek som or more or less the 100 Tajik som quoted in other posts here.

I was packed with one other fellow into the back, third row "pseudo-seats" of the car, in such a confined space I really wasn't sure I was going to be do it (i.e., claustrophobia) for four or five hours. Thankfully, the woman in front of me rolled down her window slightly for some air, and I just stayed focused on the stunning scenery. It's supposed to take five hours, but it seems it took us 4.5? Like I said, our driver zig-zagged in and out of traffic the whole way.

Safe travels!

[Van_Gogh]

Crossed the border from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan with my own vehicle last week, no problems at all. Count 2 hours for the crossing. Car wasn't searched neither by Uzbek or Tajik guards.

On Tajik side, you have to pay 25 USD (223 Somoni) "road tax", you will get a receipt. You can stay up to 15 days with your vehicle in Tajikistan.

[the_journey_of_two]

Sharing our experience in Penjikent :

Hitchhiked from Dushanbe, quite easy to get a ride. Just go close to the place were the taxis gather to take passengers to Penjikent and Khujand (last stop on bus 3A). Ignore the drivers and walk a few meters north.

The crossing itself it was very quick and easy. 5 minutes on Tajik side and maybe 15 on Uzbek side, where apparently there is a "green corridor" for tourists so we had priority on passport control and luggage checking. Actually not checking at all, only a few questions. Nothing on medicines, no paperwork at all.
Very friendly officers on both sides.

From Penjikent 3usd per person to Samarkand.

[CAHK]

Is it easy to get a taxi to travel from Samarkand to the border with Tajikistan and then to Penjikent? How much does it cost for a taxi on the Uzbekistan side?

Thanks!

[shirleytee]

Just would like to share my border crossing experience from Panjikent & Dushanbe to Samarkand.

The whole process is quick and easy and both side of the immigration officer are friendly.

From Dushanbe: the station about 10km north from the Dushanbe city. You can go to the station with bus number 3A and it cost around 1.2 somoni and get down on last station. If you have more people like me we took meters taxi at 30 somoni. Once you get down you will be surrounded by group of men’s immediately then you can start negotiating the price and we are 3 that time so we managed to get the price of 80 somoni (it will be around 80-100 somoni) to Panjikent.

From Panjikent: The shared taxi to the border located near the entrance of the bazaar (from entrance of the bazaar walk up about 100 meters and right opposite of the bank in blue signage then you will see some guys standing there). The price about 10 somoni but my friend went a day earlier than me and managed to negotiate til 8 somoni.

If you need Uzbekistan soms you can exchange with the driver too and rate can be negotiate but if you have more time go into the bazaar and go near the bank or ask help from the bank and they will direct you to the right person outside where you can change money.

After crossing.........

From Samarkand: once step out from the border you can find lot of transport bring you into the city. I was surrounded by group of men’s and again discussing the price and somehow I found out that actually there’s bus only cost 3000 soms to bus station (kaftaxona) and the bus number is 273. If you see the bus can consider to take the bus as it’s cheaper or else you can go with shared taxi at price around 5000k but they initially quoted me higher which I refused.

From Kaftaxona: once reach kaftaxona bus station you can take taxi if you want, my friend took the taxi to Russian town/new city around 6000 soms and for myself I took the bus heading to registan and it only cost 1200 soms. The bus number 41/74 or more you can ask the people around which others bus to registan.

Hope it helps!!!

[MichaelAngelo]

Hello wondering if anyone has crossed in 2018, page for Uzbekiatan crossinfs mentions it is open but more reports. Thanks!