Tashkent with kids: where to go and what to see

Ask a six-year-old what they liked best about Tashkent, and the answer may well be the metro: a palace under the street with glass stars on the ceiling and cosmonauts on the walls. Tashkent with kids is easy to plan, because most of what children enjoy here sits close together and costs little. We live here, take our own children to these places and plan family days for guests. This page is about the capital itself; for the whole country, from trains to Khiva, see Uzbekistan with kids.

The metro: the ride children ask for again

For children the metro is an attraction in itself. At Kosmonavtlar the walls turn from turquoise to deep blue like the sky on the way to orbit, and ceramic medallions show Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova. At Alisher Navoi the turquoise reliefs tell a poet’s love stories, and at Mustaqillik Maydoni crystal chandeliers hang in a row. Photography is allowed, so let them take the pictures.

Then ride the overground Circle Line, which runs on a viaduct above the streets: for a small passenger, a train with a view beats any tunnel. One fare covers the whole trip as long as you stay inside the gates. Our station-by-station route, with fares and hours, is in the Tashkent metro.

Magic City and Tashkent City Park: castles and fountains

Magic City on Bobur Street is the place most local children would choose: 21 hectares with a castle whose towers rise 60 metres, streets styled as London, Rome and Barcelona, and more than 35 rides. Entry to the park is free; you pay for the rides. Inside there is an aquarium with a 20-metre tunnel and more than 100 species, sharks among them, a Pixel play area for the youngest and a school of professions where children try out grown-up jobs. The park opens at 10:00 and works all year.

Come back after sunset for the fountain show in front of the castle. A second evening belongs to Tashkent City Park, where a 200-metre musical fountain plays on a 15-hectare lake and an amphitheatre faces the water; the park also has a planetarium. Show times and the rest of the city after dark are in Evening Tashkent. If you would like a guide and a car for it, our Evening Tashkent walk includes Magic City.

The zoo and the botanical garden: one morning, two gates

The Tashkent Zoo and the Botanical Garden stand side by side on Bogishamol Street, so one morning covers both. The zoo is open every day of the year, holidays included. In winter 2025/26 the ticket office worked from 8:00 to 17:00, and tickets cost 40,000 som from age 16 and 25,000 som for children aged 7 to 16; children under 7 go in free.

Next door, the Botanical Garden named after the botanist Fyodor Rusanov covers 65 hectares, with a collection of about 6,000 species and forms of plants. After the zoo it is the quiet half of the morning: long shady alleys where a pushchair rolls easily and children can run. In summer, go early, while the animals are active and the paths are still cool.

The railway museum: steam engines you can climb

This is the museum children remember. It is an open-air park beside the main railway station, by the Toshkent metro stop, with rows of steam, diesel and electric locomotives. The oldest engine is an OV of 1914; the most powerful steam locomotive is the P36. Most exhibits can be touched and climbed, cabs included, and a small sightseeing train runs through the collection.

The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 18:00. Allow an hour, more with a child who wants to sit in every cab. It also fits the morning before a train to Samarkand. The other city museums, and which ones hold a child’s attention, are in Tashkent museums.

Ice in winter, water in summer

Humo Arena, the big ice arena in central Tashkent, is where hockey players and figure skaters train, and it also holds public skating sessions. The ice is indoors and works all year, but it is the winter favourite of Tashkent families: a warm hall when the parks are bare. Ask us for the session times on your dates.

In summer the answer to the heat is a water park. The city has several, from Aqualand on Chinabad Street with a separate children’s pool to Monako, an indoor water park with shallow children’s pools, and Tashkent Land next to the TV tower. For a hot afternoon after a morning of sights, it is the best reward we know.

A day in the mountains: Chimgan and Amirsoy

When the city is hot, the mountains are the best escape. In July the average afternoon in Tashkent reaches 35.9 °C; at Chimgan it is 26.2 °C. Amirsoy, 65 km from Tashkent, lifts you by gondola to 2,290 m, and its Yeti rope park, with crossings 2.5 to 7 metres above the ground, is made for adults and children.

How to plan the day, and what to combine it with, is in day trips from Tashkent and our Amirsoy guide. We also arrange a mountain day at Amirsoy and Chinorkent with lunch and the cable car.

What children eat in Tashkent

Most children find their dish on the first day. Plov is rice with carrots and tender meat, filling and mild, and in Tashkent it is a lunch dish: plov centres cook in the morning and are busiest around midday. At the Central Asian Plov Centre by the TV tower, children can watch rice cooked in huge kazans. More in plov in Uzbekistan.

Samsa, flaky pastry with a filling, comes hot out of the tandoor and is easy to eat with one hand. Round non arrives at every table before anything else, and Tashkent non is soft and best on the day, so buy it in the morning; the story of the bread is in Uzbek bread, non. Take children to the morning Chorsu bazaar to see the bread arrive warm and to taste dried fruit; see bazaars of Uzbekistan. Give children bottled water only; it is sold on every corner.

Heat, pushchairs and car seats: practical notes

• When to come. April to May and September to October are the easiest months with children. In July and August, see the sights before 11:00, spend the middle of the day indoors or in water, and go out again after six, when local families fill the parks.
• Short walks. Plan one big place a day and keep walks short: the city is spread out, and a short taxi ride between two parks saves small legs. Hats, sunscreen and a water bottle for each child, every day from May to September.
• Pushchairs and the metro. Many underground stations are reached by stairs rather than lifts, and at some you carry the pushchair down a flight or two. A light folding buggy or a baby carrier is easier than a big pram. At the entrance everyone goes through a metal detector.
• Car seats. Uzbek traffic rules require a child seat under 7 and a child restraint belt from 7 to 12. Street taxis rarely carry them, so for our transfers and tours, child seats are on request: send us the children’s ages and weights.
• How long. Two or three days give Tashkent to children without rushing: the metro and the railway museum on one day, the zoo, the botanical garden and Magic City on another, the mountains on a third.
• With us. Our Uzbekistan with Kids tour begins in Tashkent, with the Kosmonavtlar metro station, and goes on to Samarkand and Bukhara by the Afrosiyob, with child seats in the cars. For one day in the city with a guide and a car, there is our Tashkent highlights tour. During the trip we are on call 24/7.

In short

• The metro is the cheapest attraction in town: Kosmonavtlar for the stars, the Circle Line for the view.
• Magic City has free entry, rides, an aquarium and a fountain show; Tashkent City Park has a second fountain.
• The zoo and the botanical garden share one street; under-7s enter the zoo free.
• The railway museum lets children climb into the cabs, Wednesday to Sunday.
• Skate at Humo Arena in winter, cool off in a water park or the mountains in summer, and plan plov for lunch.