Cable cars in Uzbekistan: Amirsoy, Beldersay, Zaamin, Miraki and the new line in Samarkand
Places in this article: Samarkand · Tashkent
Until December 2021 the last stretch to Amirsoy was a serpentine mountain road. Now you leave the car by the main road, step into a glass cabin for ten and nine minutes later you are at the resort. Cable cars are the newest way to see Uzbekistan's mountains, and in a few years they have spread from the Tashkent mountains to Jizzakh, Kashkadarya and now Samarkand. Here is where they run, what each ride is like, and a few facts that surprise even our Tashkent friends.
Amirsoy: two gondolas 65 km from Tashkent
Amirsoy opened on 21 December 2019 as the country's first modern ski resort, 65 km from Tashkent on the spurs of the Did you know? Snow leopards live in a reserve near Tashkent The Chatkal Biosphere Reserve, founded in 1947, spans 1,500–3,900 m on the Chatkal Range. It protects 770 plant species and rare animals including the snow leopard and Menzbier's marmot. Read more →. Both of its gondolas were built by the Austrian company Doppelmayr.
- Amirsoy Express starts by the main road and takes you to the resort in about nine minutes, saving 5 km of hairpins. It opened on 26 December 2021 and has 74 cabins for ten people each, up to 2,400 passengers an hour. The cabins have panoramic glazing and step-free access, so prams and wheelchairs roll straight in.
- Prima is the upper gondola, with eight-seat cabins. It climbs to the summit of Amirsoy at 2,290 m.
You do not need skis to ride. Amirsoy works in summer and winter: in the warm months there are guided mountain hikes, a rope park, quad bikes and a heated outdoor pool. Gondolas start at 9:00.
Our favourite easy day out combines Amirsoy with lunch and the cable car at Chinorkent near Lake Charvak. You will find it as "Amirsoy and Chinorkent: lunch and the cable car" in Travel Moments.
Beldersay and Chimgan: from a chairlift to a gondola
When people in Tashkent say "the Mountains of the Western Tian Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → cable car", they usually mean the lift at Beldersay, on the slopes of Mount Kumbel, 5 km from Chimgan. For years it was a two-seat chairlift. It has now been replaced by a Doppelmayr gondola: 43 cabins for ten people, 2,290 m of line, a mid-station at 1,676 m and a top station at 2,087 m. The ride takes about seven minutes.
In July 2026 Beldersoy Resort and Spa opened at Beldersay, the first Destination by Hyatt property in Uzbekistan, so this is the first winter with a full resort around the lift. Chimgan itself keeps its ski season from December to mid-March, and in summer the whole area is about hiking. More on that in our guide to the mountains near Tashkent.
If you want the snow without the logistics, our ski weekend in the Tashkent mountains takes you from your hotel to the lifts and back.
Zaamin: 530 metres up in one ride
In the Zaamin tourist zone of Jizzakh region a cable car opened on 25 August 2023. The lower station stands at 1,961 m and the upper one at 2,491 m, so a single ride lifts you 530 m. Its 36 cabins were made by the Swiss company Bartholet, and the line carries up to 1,200 people an hour.
Miraki: a cable car near Shakhrisabz
Miraki is a mountain village at the foot of the Hissar Range, about 30 km from the centre of Shakhrisabz district, 40–50 minutes by car. Its Doppelmayr cable car near the Hissarak reservoir is 2,084 m long, with seven towers and 20 eight-seat cabins. If you are going to Shakhrisabz anyway, Miraki turns the day into a mountain one.
Coming next: Samarkand
In February 2026 construction began on a cable car at the A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. Samarkand tourist centre. The line will be 1,700 m long, with 35 cabins for ten passengers moving at 5 m/s, and up to 1,500 people an hour. That means a cable-car ride on a trip to Samarkand without leaving the city.
Did you know?
- Amirsoy Express was built in seven and a half months: work started on 1 May 2021 and finished on 15 December 2021.
- On the Zaamin line the longest span, between towers 8 and 9, is 615 m, with no support in between.
- At its steepest the Zaamin cable climbs at 42 degrees, and the cabins travel at up to 6 m/s.
- The tallest tower at Zaamin, number 11, is 35 m high.
- Beldersay swapped two seats per chair for ten per cabin: each gondola cabin carries five times as many people as a chair on the old lift.
Before you ride
- Seasons. Skiing near Tashkent runs from December to March. In summer the Amirsoy gondolas carry walkers, and this is when the mountains are green.
- Getting there. Amirsoy is 65 km from Tashkent, Chimgan about 85 km, both by the Tashkent–Gazalkent road; we plan about an hour and a half from the city centre. We drive guests there with our own drivers; for a longer trip, our four-day jeep expedition covers Chimgan and Charvak off the asphalt.
- Weather. Lifts follow the weather: in strong wind or a storm the schedule can change on the day, so we plan rides for the morning.
- Clothes. At the top it is noticeably cooler than in the city, even in July. Take a layer.
In short
- The easiest cable car to reach is Amirsoy: 65 km from Tashkent, two Doppelmayr gondolas, summit at 2,290 m, open in summer too.
- Beldersay's old chairlift is now a ten-seat gondola, with Uzbekistan's first Destination by Hyatt resort next to it.
- Zaamin lifts you 530 m in a single ride; Miraki pairs well with Shakhrisabz.
- Samarkand's 1.7 km line has been under construction since February 2026.
