When traveling to Uzbekistan, you will most likely start your trip in Tashkent, as this is the capital and main gateway to Uzbekistan. The Tashkent International Airport is in fact one of the busiest airports in Central Asia! Depending on the length of your trip, you might choose to spend time in Tashkent or not. We spent three nights but only one full day in Tashkent, which worked for us, though I’m sure there’s lots more to see and do there.
Like most of Uzbekistan, Tashkent was walking friendly in terms of distances, so that’s how we chose to explore while we were there. To be clear, Tashkent is walkable but it would be challenging for people with mobility issues or visually impaired. The sidewalks can be crowded with people and objects, and there are no ramps on sidewalks for wheelchairs to use.
We spent our first two nights in Tashkent with kids at Hotel Marwa Tashkent. Our plane landed a bit past 1 a.m., and we reached the hotel shortly after on a private transfer we pre-arranged through the hotel. We got a quadruple room with two separate rooms and it worked great for our family of four.
The next morning we headed to Chorsu Bazaar, which was a 10 minute walk away. You should not miss Chorsu Bazaar when visiting Tashkent. The bazaar sits under a massive tiled dome, and it offers a wide range of spices, tea, nuts, dried fruits, meats, everyday necessities, and more. We very much enjoyed walking around the bazaar and getting our first taste of this new country! Also, the ATMs here worked for us, so that was an added plus!
The market never felt crowded, but there was definitely a lot going on. We were happy we managed to buy some loose leaf tea with the help of Google Translate and mutual friendliness. We also bought delicious dried fruit, nuts, and honey.
There’s a lot more happening outside the domed area in Chorsu Bazaar. In fact, the market extends in many directions. We took a spin around it to check it out. Our kids got a couple of sweet treats for free at one of the stores, which was so nice!
From Chorsu we walked about a half hour through the old town to the Hazrati Imam Religious Complex. This was our first taste of Uzbekistan’s beautiful islamic architecture.
The main attraction of this religious complex is this library museum, which houses the 7th-century Osman Quran (Uthman Quran), said to be the world’s oldest. This Quran was first brought to Samarkand by Timor. The Russians then brought it to Moscow in the mid 1800s before returning it to Tashkent in 1924. The Uthman Quran is Tashkent’s most important sight. (We didn’t get to see the Quran because the building was closed for no apparent reason.)
After trying to figure out how to enter the library, we made a quick stop to visit the adjacent mosque. The dome inside was stunning and well worth the visit! As a side note, many of the carpet designs in Uzbekistan are inspired after the many domes in the country. Afterwards, we headed out to look for lunch.
Finding food in Tashkent took some effort on our part. Fortunately, with the help of Google Maps we found a nearby place that had great reviews and headed there. A friendly woman greeted us and helped us choose what to eat–more like she decided for us since we were unable to read the menu, and we were totally okay with it. Food was very good and not even $20 total for 4 plates, 4 drinks, and bread!
After lunch we started walking back towards our hotel. On the way we stumbled upon the Tashkent Natural History Museum so we popped in to check it out. The museum is undergoing renovations, but it was still very interesting, especially for the kids. We enjoyed learning about the different wildlife in the area, and also seeing a couple of very unique specimens such as a one eyed goat and a two-headed snake!
The next morning we left very early for the airport to catch our flight to Khiva. We went back to Tashkent at the end of our travels, but arrived late in the evening and left early the next day, so we didn’t get to do more exploring. If we’d had more time, I would’ve ridden the metro in order to see some of their beautiful and ornate metro stations.
To read more about our travels in Uzbekistan, click here.
