Uzbekistan tours from Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary: visa-free entry, flights from Prague and Budapest and the best weeks of 2027

In June 1863 a thin man in a dervish’s cloak reached the gates of Khiva with a caravan of pilgrims from Persia. He called himself Reshit Efendi; in fact he was Ármin Vámbéry, a young Hungarian linguist, and the book he wrote about the journey made Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand known across Europe. What took him months now takes a day: a summer nonstop from Prague, one change from Budapest and Bratislava, and on a Czech, Slovak or Hungarian passport no visa at all. We are a tour operator in Tashkent, and this is our guide to Uzbekistan tours from Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary: entry rules, flights, the best weeks around your school holidays in 2027, and the travellers and scholars from your countries who came here before you. The wider picture is in our guide to Uzbekistan tours from Europe.

Entry for Czech, Slovak and Hungarian citizens: 30 days without a visa

Citizens of Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary enter Uzbekistan without a visa and can stay for up to 30 days, counted from the day they cross the border. All three countries have been on the visa-free list since 1 February 2019. For a longer stay, or to work or study, you need a visa before you travel.

Travel on your passport: a national ID card is not accepted for entry. Uzbekistan asks for a passport valid for at least six months, with at least one blank page for the border stamps. Keep it at hand during the trip: you need it at hotels, when you buy train tickets and when you change money. If a child travels without both parents, ask us in advance which documents to bring.

Every foreign visitor is registered within three days of arrival. Hotels do it at check-in through the national E-mehmon system, so in a hotel you do nothing yourself. For a night in a yurt camp or a village home, we check in advance how it is done there. Keep the registration slips until you fly home. Details are in our article on registration and customs and in our visa guide.

Take out travel insurance that covers medical treatment in Uzbekistan for every day of the trip; our article on travel insurance explains what to look for. While you travel, our office in Tashkent is reachable 24/7.

From Prague, Bratislava and Budapest: a summer nonstop and good connections

From Prague. In the summer season Qanot Sharq flies nonstop from Václav Havel Airport to Tashkent once a week. In 2026 the last flights of the season left on 14 and 21 October at 14:00 and landed in Tashkent at 22:40 local time. Check the 2027 dates when you book. The rest of the year you fly with one change: Lufthansa and Condor to Frankfurt in about 1 h 10 min, Lufthansa to Munich in about 55 minutes, or Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and AJet to Istanbul in 2 h 35 min to 2 h 50 min.

From Budapest. There are no nonstop flights to Tashkent in the current timetable. Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, Wizz Air and AJet fly to Istanbul in 2 h to 2 h 15 min, Lufthansa and Condor to Frankfurt in about 1 h 45 min, and Lufthansa to Munich in 1 h 15 min to 1 h 20 min.

From Bratislava. There are no nonstop flights either. Vienna Airport is about 40 km away, with buses every 30 to 60 minutes, and from there you have the same connections as from Austria, described in our guide to Uzbekistan tours from Austria. From Bratislava itself, Pegasus flies to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen in about 2 h 10 min.

The second leg: from Frankfurt, Uzbekistan Airways, Qanot Sharq and Centrum Air fly nonstop to Tashkent in about 6 h 20 min; from Munich, Uzbekistan Airways on certain days in the same time; from Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines, Uzbekistan Airways, Centrum Air and Qanot Sharq in 4 h 30 min to 4 h 50 min. Pegasus, AJet and Wizz Air land at Sabiha Gökçen, on the other side of Istanbul, so check which airport your onward flight leaves from. Days and times change between the winter and summer timetables. More routes are in our guide to flights to Uzbekistan.

Tashkent is on UTC+5 all year, with no summer time: four hours ahead of Prague, Bratislava and Budapest in winter, three in summer. Many flights land in the evening or at night, so we plan the first night around your arrival. We can also arrange fast-track passport control and a car to your hotel.

Ármin Vámbéry: from Pest to Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand

Vámbéry set out from Istanbul in the autumn of 1861, crossed Persia and, travelling as a Sunni dervish, reached Khiva in June 1863. From there he went on to Bukhara and Samarkand and returned by way of Herat, arriving back in Pest in May 1864. In 1865 his account came out in Hungarian as Közép-ázsiai utazás, in English as Travels in Central Asia and in German as Reise in Mittelasien, and he became professor of Oriental languages at the university in Pest.

His three cities are still the heart of any first trip. In Khiva, the walled old town of Itchan Kala is best seen on foot with a private guide, early in the morning or towards sunset. Where his caravan crossed the desert, a train now runs: see from Khiva to Bukhara and our 8-day tour of Uzbekistan by train, which links Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.

Czech archaeologists in the south: Jandavlattepa and the Sherobod oasis

Since 2002 a joint Czech-Uzbek expedition of Charles University in Prague and the Archaeological Institute in Samarkand has been working in the Sherobod district of Surkhandarya, in the far south of the country, in the lands of ancient Bactria. From 2002 to 2006 the team excavated the hill of Jandavlattepa, and the first volume of its report came out in Prague in 2011. Later it surveyed the whole Sherobod oasis, since 2015 the foothills of the Kugitang mountains and the Pashkhurt valley, and since 2023 it has been digging at Kulal Tepa.

The south is a region for those who like history from the ground up: the ruined monasteries of Fayaz Tepe and Kara Tepe, the brick Zurmala stupa and the finds of the region in the museum in Termez. Our Termez guide and the article on Baysun and Surkhandarya describe the area, and our 5-day tour of Termez and Surkhandarya brings it together.

Uzbekistan tours from Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary: routes for 5 to 10 days

You book the flight, and we arrange everything on the ground: hotels, train tickets, guides and transfers, timed to your arrival. Your guide speaks your language, and that is included in the price: tell us when you book whether you want Czech, Slovak, Hungarian or English.

The classic week, 8 days. Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva on our 8-day classic tour. How we lay out such a week is in Uzbekistan in 7 days.

At an easy pace, 10 days. The same four cities with shorter days and more time to rest: our classic tour at a gentle pace.

On foot, 8 days. For those who spend their holidays in the mountains, our hiking tour of Chimgan, Nuratau and Samarkand combines a day hike in the Western Tien Shan, two nights with families in the Nuratau villages and a yurt camp by Lake Aydarkul. More in our guide to hiking in Uzbekistan.

Under the ground, 8 days. Our archaeology tour of Samarkand and Bukhara follows ancient Sogdiana from Afrasiyab to the sites around Bukhara.

Wine and the table, 5 days. Uzbekistan has its own wine country around Samarkand. Our wine tour of Tashkent and Samarkand visits it, and on any route through Samarkand we can add a wine tasting at Bagizagan; read our wine guide first.

In winter, 8 days. From December to February our winter Silk Road tour takes the train through Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, with each day planned around the short daylight. Not sure which route fits your dates? Try our tour finder.

When to go: jarní prázdniny, Easter and the summer of 2027

Spring holidays. In Czechia the week of jarní prázdniny depends on the district of the school and falls between 1 February and 14 March 2027: 22–28 February in Prague 1 to 5 and in Brno, 1–7 March in Prague 6 to 10, 8–14 March in Plzeň and Hradec Králové. In Slovakia it is 15–19 February in the Banská Bystrica, Žilina and Trenčín regions, 22–26 February in the Košice and Prešov regions, and 1–5 March in the Bratislava, Nitra and Trnava regions. Tashkent afternoons average 9.5 °C in February and 16 °C in March, with nights around zero in February: a mild winter, quiet museums and short queues. More in Uzbekistan in February and Uzbekistan in March.

Easter. Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027. Czech schools are off from Thursday 25 March, and with Good Friday and Easter Monday that makes five days; in Slovakia the Easter holidays run from 25 to 30 March, and in Hungary the spring break from 25 March to 4 April. Tashkent averages 22 °C in the afternoon in April and 28 °C in May: the most comfortable weeks of the year for the cities. See April and May.

Summer. Hungarian schools finish on 18 June 2027, and in Czechia and Slovakia the holidays run from 1 July to 31 August. In Czechia, 5 and 6 July fall on a Monday and a Tuesday, which makes a four-day weekend. We will be honest: an Uzbek summer is hot. Tashkent averages 33.6 °C in the afternoon in June and 35.9 °C in July, so we plan the cities for mornings and evenings and add days in the mountains, where Chimgan averages 26.2 °C in July. See Uzbekistan in summer.

Autumn. In 2027 the Czech holidays of 28 September and 28 October fall on a Tuesday and a Thursday, good for a long weekend with a day off in between. September afternoons in Tashkent average 29.5 °C and October afternoons 22.2 °C. See Uzbekistan in autumn and when to go.

Money, plugs, food and your phone

• Cards. Visa and Mastercard work at most terminals in city hotels, restaurants, shops and stations, and many ATMs give out so’m on them. Bazaars, villages and small shops often take cash only.
• Euros, not crowns or forints. On 20 October 2026 the central bank rate was 13,525.02 so’m to the euro. Czech crowns and Hungarian forints are not among the currencies the banks list, so bring euros or dollars. Change money only at banks and official exchange offices, with your passport. See where to exchange currency and cards, cash and tipping.
• Plugs. Sockets are types C and F at 230 V, the same voltage as at home. Hungarian plugs fit as they are; the two-pin Europlugs and the hybrid plugs used in Czechia and Slovakia fit too.
• Food. Uzbek cooking is built around bread, rice, vegetables and meat, and plov is the dish of celebrations. If you eat no meat or follow another diet, tell us in advance and we will take it into account; our guide for vegetarians in Uzbekistan has the words to use.
• Phone. Roaming works, and a local SIM card is issued against your passport; read bringing a phone to Uzbekistan first.
• Water. Drink bottled water: it is sold everywhere, in many brands.

In short

• Czech, Slovak and Hungarian passports: up to 30 days in Uzbekistan without a visa; your hotel registers you.
• From Prague, a nonstop in the summer season; otherwise, and from Budapest and Bratislava, one change in Frankfurt, Munich or Istanbul.
• The most comfortable weeks are in April and May and from September to October; summer is hot, winter is mild and quiet.
• Bring euros rather than crowns or forints; your plugs fit.
• Your guide speaks your language, included in the price.