Uzbekistan tours from Australia: flights, entry, seasons and how many days
Places in this article: Samarkand · Bukhara · Khiva · Tashkent
Six mornings a week at ten, an Uzbekistan Airways flight leaves Seoul for Tashkent and lands at 13:10. Connect onto it from Sydney or Brisbane and you arrive in time for a slow first evening in the capital. There are no direct flights from Australia, but one change in Asia or the Gulf gets you here, with no Entry rules depend on your passport. Once you are here, each stay must be registered within three days, and hotels do it for you; customs and registration rules are in our guide. Read more → and a time difference smaller than you might expect. We are a tour operator in Tashkent, and this is how a trip from Australia, and from New Zealand, works in 2026.
Entry: no visa for Australian and New Zealand passports
Australian and New Zealand citizens enter Uzbekistan without a visa and can stay up to 30 days from the date of entry. That covers any of our tours with room to spare. If you plan to stay longer, you need a visa before you travel; details for other passports, if someone in your group holds one, are in our visa guide.
Foreign visitors must be registered within three days of arrival. On a tour you will hardly notice: hotels register guests at check-in. Keep the confirmations until you fly home. Customs rules, including what to declare, are in our article on registration and customs.
Flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth
There is no nonstop flight between Australia and Uzbekistan, so plan on one connection. These hubs have scheduled flights to Tashkent:
| Hub | From Australia | Onward to Tashkent |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul | Korean Air from Sydney and Brisbane | Uzbekistan Airways daily, 7 h 10 min, morning departures |
| Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia Airlines from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide | Uzbekistan Airways four times a week from late October 2026, 8 h |
| Dubai | Emirates from Sydney and Melbourne | Uzbekistan Airways daily, 3 h 10 min; flydubai also flies the route |
| Abu Dhabi | Etihad from Sydney and Melbourne | Etihad daily since August 2026, landing in Tashkent after midnight |
| Doha | Qatar Airways from several Australian cities | Qatar Airways four times a week |
From Perth, Kuala Lumpur is the natural choice. From the east coast, Seoul gives the most comfortable arrival time. Etihad has a code-share with Uzbekistan Airways that continues from Tashkent to eight domestic airports, Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench (for Khiva) among them, on one ticket.
Whatever route you pick, check your government's travel advice for every country where you change planes, not only for Uzbekistan. More on airports and connections is in our guide to flights to Uzbekistan.
From New Zealand you use the same hubs, often with a first leg to Australia. Emirates' daily Christchurch flight, for example, goes to Dubai via Sydney.
Time difference and jet lag
Tashkent is on UTC+5 all year, with no daylight saving. That puts it 3 hours behind Perth, 5 hours behind Brisbane, and 5 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne in the Australian winter, 6 in summer. New Zealand is 7 hours ahead of Tashkent in its winter and 8 in its summer. The flights are long, but the shift for your body clock is far smaller than on a trip to Europe. We still keep the first day light.
When to go: the seasons flip
Our spring is your autumn. The best months for the cities are April to May and September to October, when days are warm and the evenings are pleasant for walking. July and August are the hot months here, and winter is cold and quiet: daytime highs of 7–10 °C in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, nights around zero. More in when to go.
Australian school holidays line up well with our best weather. In New South Wales, the 2027 autumn holidays run from 12 to 23 April and the spring holidays from 27 September to 8 October. In Victoria, Term 1 ends on 25 March and Term 2 starts on 12 April, and Term 3 ends on 17 September with Term 4 starting on 4 October. Over the Christmas holidays you get our winter instead: empty squares and our New Year in Uzbekistan tour.
Money, phone and insurance
Cards and cash. Australian and New Zealand Visa and Mastercard cards work in almost every card terminal: hotels, restaurants, shops and railway stations. Keep cash in so'm for bazaars, street food and some taxis; ATMs are at the airports and in every bank, shopping centre and large hotel in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara. How we split card and cash on our own trips is in cards, cash and tipping.
SIM card. A local SIM bought with your passport works without any phone registration for 60 days, longer than any of our tours. The details are in bringing a phone to Uzbekistan.
Insurance. Take a policy that covers treatment, hospital stays and medical evacuation, and check that it covers every country on your route, including the one where you change planes. Bring any regular medicine with its prescription; some medicines containing codeine are restricted here. More in our safety and health guide.
How many days, and which tour fits
Getting here takes a long day each way, so a short trip makes little sense. We suggest at least 10 days on the ground. You buy the flight, and we handle everything inside the country: hotels, train tickets, guides and transfers, timed to your arrival and departure.
Ten to twelve days in Uzbekistan. Our 11-day classic tour covers Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva without rushing. The 10-day off-the-beaten-path tour goes beyond the usual stops, and photographers can join our 12-day photo tour. How we lay out these days is in Uzbekistan in 10 days and Uzbekistan in 14 days.
If you only have a week. The 8-day classic tour or the 8-day group tour of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva still show you the four great cities.
Adding the neighbours. Since you have come this far, many guests add a second country. Our 12-day Tajikistan and Silk Road tour combines Uzbek cities with the Fann Mountains, and the 23-day Silk Road tour crosses five Central Asian countries. How the borders and trains work is in Central Asia tours.
Not sure which route fits your dates? Our tour finder will narrow it down.
In short
- No visa for Australian and New Zealand passports: up to 30 days from entry; hotels handle registration.
- No direct flights: one change in Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha.
- Tashkent is 3 to 6 hours behind Australia's main cities, a far smaller jump than to Europe.
- Best months: April–May and September–October, which match the autumn and spring school holidays.
- Plan 10 days or more on the ground, and consider adding a neighbouring country.
