Tashkent in 1 or 2 days: Hazrati Imam, Chorsu, the metro and the way on to Samarkand

What is where

Tashkent is big: about 3.2 million people, and around 4 km from Chorsu to Amir Timur Square. The old city around Chorsu and Hazrati Imam is low houses, mosques and the bazaar. The centre, rebuilt after the 1966 earthquake, is avenues, parks and modernist buildings. The blue Uzbekistan line of the metro joins the two.

Arriving by plane or train

The airport is inside the city, south of the centre. International flights use Terminal 2 and domestic flights Terminal 3. They are about 4 km apart by road, with a free shuttle bus between them, which matters if you connect to a flight to Urgench or Bukhara. There is no metro to the airport: take a Yandex Go taxi or a transfer. See also flights to Uzbekistan.

By train you arrive at one of two stations. Tashkent Central, which locals call the North station, takes the Afrosiyob and the day trains, and the Toshkent metro station is next to it. The South station, about 7 km away, takes most overnight sleepers. Your ticket names the station.

Your hotel registers you on arrival (see registration and customs). Cards work in hotels, restaurants and shops in the centre; keep som in cash for the bazaar, as explained in cards, cash and tipping.

One day: the old city, the metro and the main square

Morning: Hazrati Imam

Start early, before the heat. The Hazrati Imam complex grew around the tomb of a 10th-century Tashkent scholar nicknamed Kaffal, the locksmith. Around its big square stand the 16th-century Barakhan madrasa, the Tillya Sheikh mosque and the Hazrati Imam mosque. This is a working religious site: cover shoulders and knees and bring a scarf, as described in what to wear.

The Center of Islamic Civilization

Behind the old domes rises a much bigger one. The Center of Islamic Civilization opened in March 2026: its halls run from Sogdiana to the Timurids, and in the Qur’an Hall under the 65-metre dome lies the Mushaf of Uthman, a 7th-century Qur’an. Allow two to three hours and book a timed slot in advance. It is open until 22:00, so you can also come back after dark for the lit-up façade. Tickets and the route are in our guide to the Center of Islamic Civilization.

Midday: Chorsu Bazaar

A short taxi ride away, Chorsu trades under a blue dome built in 1980, now one of the ten Tashkent buildings on the World Heritage List. Under the dome you find spices, dried apricots, raisins, nuts, bread and kurt, small balls of salted dried yoghurt. At the edge of the bazaar stands the Kukeldash madrasa of about 1570, which has been an inn, a fortress and a museum, and has been teaching again since the 1990s. Bring cash, and expect to bargain at the stalls; our guide to what to buy in Uzbekistan explains how.

Afternoon: the metro as a sightseeing line

Go down into Chorsu station and ride the blue Uzbekistan line towards the centre. One flat fare covers any distance and any number of changes. Get off at Alisher Navoi: domes rest on tapered columns, and turquoise ceramic reliefs show scenes from the poems of Navoi. Two stops further is Kosmonavtlar, opened in 1984: walls that darken from blue to black, ceramic medallions of Ulugh Beg, Gagarin and Tereshkova, and glass stars in the ceiling. It is the only metro station on the UNESCO list. Let your train go and give each platform ten minutes; photography has been allowed since 2018.

Evening: Amir Timur Square

From Kosmonavtlar it is a short walk to Amir Timur Square. It began as a park in 1882 and got its name and the equestrian statue of Timur in 1994. The Amir Timur Museum, opened in 1996, stands on its south side, and the modernist Hotel Uzbekistan faces it from the east. Nearby is the Alisher Navoi Theatre, opened in 1947, with six foyers carved in the styles of six regions of the country. An opera or ballet ticket is the easiest way to see them.

If you would rather have a guide and a car for all this, it is our Tashkent highlights tour.

Two days: museums, the white mosque and the TV Tower

Morning: two museums

The State Museum of History, founded in 1876, reopened in July 2026 after two years of renovation, and its 1970 building is one of the ten on the World Heritage List. Among its treasures is a Buddhist relief from Fayaz Tepe near Termez; allow an hour for the archaeology halls.

Then go to the Museum of Applied Arts. In 1896 the diplomat Alexander Polovtsov bought a merchant’s house and had it rebuilt in the Central Asian style; today it holds more than 7,000 pieces of folk craft. See it before you shop in Samarkand and Bukhara: it trains your eye for good suzani and ceramics.

Afternoon and evening

Plov is a midday dish in Tashkent, and the big plov centre at the foot of the TV Tower cooks it in giant kazans in an open kitchen. After lunch, ride up the TV Tower: 375 m to the tip of the spire, with an observation deck at about 97 m that looks out over the whole city. End the day at the Minor Mosque on the Ankhor canal, opened in 2014: white marble, a sky-blue dome and two minarets, loveliest in the evening light. Visit outside prayer times.

Would you rather spend the second day out of town? The mountains are close: see our Chimgan and Charvak day trip.

What to eat in Tashkent

Have plov at lunch: by evening many kazans are empty. Try Tashkent naryn, the capital’s own dish: thin hand-cut noodles with finely chopped boiled horse meat, served cold with onion and slices of kazy sausage, or as a hot soup. More dishes are in Uzbek cuisine and plov in Uzbekistan.