Mountains near Tashkent: Chimgan, Amirsoy, Beldersay and Charvak
Places in this article: Tashkent
On a July afternoon Tashkent averages 35.9 °C. Up at Mountains of the Western Tian Shan about 80 km from Tashkent: hiking in summer, skiing in winter, the Charvak reservoir nearby. Read more → the weather station logs 26.2 °C, and the night drops to around 16 °C. That gap of almost ten degrees is why we head into the mountains every summer weekend, and in winter the same road takes us to the ski lifts. Chimgan, Beldersay, Amirsoy and Lake Charvak all lie 65–85 km from the capital. Here is how we plan a trip there in any season.
Chimgan, Beldersay, Amirsoy: what is what
Chimgan is the name everyone in Tashkent knows. It sits about 85 km east of the city in 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 →, the western edge of the Did you know? The tulip's family tree is said to begin in the Tian Shan Long before Ottoman gardens and Dutch bulb fields, wild tulips grew in Central Asia's mountains, and the Tian Shan is often named as their homeland. In April they flower on the slopes around Chimgan. Read more →. The resort area lies at about 1,600 m, and above it rises Greater Chimgan, 3,309 m, the highest point of the range. The Chimgansay and Beldersay rivers start on its slopes. Chimgan is a year-round place: snow and skiing in winter, hiking from spring to autumn.
Beldersay is a separate ski area 5 km from Chimgan, on the slopes of Mount Kumbel. Amirsoy is the newest of the three: more than 900 hectares on the same Chatkal spurs, 65 km from Tashkent, built as an all-season resort with gondolas running since 2021.
Lake Charvak and the national park
Charvak is not a natural lake. It is a reservoir behind a 168 m stone dam on the Chirchiq River, built between 1964 and 1970. It holds 2 km³ of water from the Pskem, Chatkal and Koksu rivers and sits between three ranges: Ugam to the north, Pskem to the east and Chatkal to the south. About 150 archaeological sites went under the water; archaeologists studied them before the flooding. The name comes from the Persian for "four gardens".
The shore villages, Yusufkhona, Burchmulla, Nanay, Chorvoq, Sijjak and Bogiston, are where Tashkent spends its summer: dachas, guesthouses and tapchans by the water. Yusufkhona is also the local paragliding spot.
Chimgan lies within the Did you know? A marmot found almost nowhere else on Earth Menzbier's marmot, the smallest marmot of the Palearctic, has the smallest range of its kind, in the Western Tian Shan at 2,000–3,600 m. It sleeps through winter from August or September until spring. Read more →, created in 1992. It covers 668,350 hectares across the Bostanlyk, Parkent and Akhangaran districts and includes the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve, under UNESCO since 1978. Brown bears, wolves, mountain goats and wild boar live here, along with more than 1,000 plant species.
Winter: where we ski
The ski season runs from December to March, and each of the three areas has its own character.
- Amirsoy has 11 runs with a total length of more than 15 km, between 1,630 and 2,286 m. All of them are easy or intermediate, so it suits families and beginners. A 10-seat gondola brings you up from the road, the Prima gondola continues to the 2,290 m summit, and there are four-seat chairlifts and five magic carpets for beginners. Gondolas run 09:00–19:00; the ski season is mid-December to late March.
- Beldersay has 6.2 km of runs from 1,506 to 2,307 m, a longer vertical than Amirsoy and a short difficult section of 0.3 km. The season is early December to early April, with lifts from 09:00 to 17:00.
- Chimgan skiing usually starts in December and lasts until mid-March.
Dress for real winter. In January the Chimgan station averages a daytime high of 1.2 °C and a night low of −5.6 °C, while in Tashkent it is still above zero in the afternoon.
New for winter 2026/27: Beldersoy Resort and Spa
In July 2026 Beldersoy Resort and Spa opened at Beldersay, the first Destination by Hyatt property in Uzbekistan. It has 109 rooms and private villas, a thalasso spa with indoor and outdoor pools, and two restaurants. This winter is its first ski season, so before we book we check which slopes and lifts at Beldersay are running on your dates.
If you want the snow without the logistics, our ski weekend in the Tashkent mountains takes you from your hotel to Amirsoy, Beldersay or Chimgan and back, with a night at the resort and help with ski passes and rental.
Summer: hikes and the weather up there
From May to October the mountains are green and the trails are open. At Chimgan the average high is 18.3 °C in May, 26.2 °C in July and 14.4 °C in October. April is the wettest month and August the driest, so a late-summer hike rarely gets rained out.
Three walks we come back to:
- Gulkam gorge. From Chimgan you climb to the Pesochny (Sandy) Pass at 1,870 m, which takes 1–2 hours, then walk about 3 km down a stony track into the gorge. In places the walls close in to 5 m, with waterfalls and fast streams. The whole day is 5–7 hours; we go with an experienced guide and a rope.
- The pass between Greater and Did you know? A wild tulip that grows nowhere but these mountains Tulipa butkovii is endemic to the western Chatkal Range. It was described from bulbs collected in 1959 on the slopes of Little Chimgan and flowers in April and May. Read more →. A day hike straight from Chimgan village, with the 3,309 m peak above you the whole way.
- Paltau waterfall. A 38 m fall in the Paltau valley beyond Charvak. On the way you pass the Obi-Rakhmat grotto, where a Paleolithic site was found.
If hiking is not your thing, Amirsoy keeps its gondolas running in summer, with guided mountain walks, a rope park, quad bikes and a heated outdoor pool. For seasons across the country see when to visit Uzbekistan; for the capital, our Tashkent page.
Getting there
By car, take the Tashkent–Gazalkent road, then the turn through Galvasay towards Chimgan and Beldersay; Amirsoy is on the same route. From central Tashkent we plan about an hour and a half, more on Friday evenings and summer weekends.
Without a car, take a minibus from Buyuk Ipak Yuli Did you know? A metro designed to ride out a magnitude-9 earthquake The three original lines of the Tashkent Metro were built to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, and the tunnels lie unusually shallow, only 8–25 m below the street. Read more → station to Gazalkent and a taxi from there. Amirsoy also arranges a paid transfer from the city on request.
The weather in the mountains changes faster than in Tashkent, so pack a warm layer even in July. For health and safety, including the mountains, see Safety and health in Uzbekistan.
If you would rather go with a guide and a vehicle, our catalog includes the Jeep Expedition: High Tashkent — 4 Days. For other nature-focused options, use the tour finder or the catalog.
In short
- Chimgan, Beldersay and Amirsoy are 65–85 km from Tashkent, about 1.5 hours by car; Greater Chimgan is 3,309 m.
- Skiing runs from December to March: Amirsoy for easy and intermediate runs, Beldersay for a longer vertical and, since July 2026, the Beldersoy Resort and Spa.
- In July Chimgan is almost ten degrees cooler than the city; hiking season is May to October.
- Lake Charvak is a 1970 reservoir with shore villages and paragliding at Yusufkhona.
- Pack a warm layer in any season; for safety see our health and safety article.
