Places in this article: Samarkand · Tashkent
Uzbekistan tours from Kazakhstan: flights from Almaty and Astana, the train, the border and entry
The Almaty–Tashkent train leaves Almaty-2 at 19:05, stops in Shymkent at 06:25 and pulls into Tashkent at 12:58. You do not even reset your watch: since March 2024 all of Kazakhstan has been on UTC+5, the same time as Uzbekistan. By air it is an hour and a half from Almaty and about two hours from Astana. We are a tour operator in Tashkent, and this is how a trip from Kazakhstan works in 2026: flights, the train, the road, entry, money and the trips that fit.
Nonstop flights from Almaty, Astana and Aktobe
Almost every flight from Kazakhstan lands in Tashkent. The table shows the autumn and winter 2026/27 timetable.
| From | To | Flight time | Airlines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almaty | Tashkent | 1 h 30 min – 1 h 55 min | Air Astana (several flights most days), Uzbekistan Airways (daily), Centrum Air (Fridays) |
| Astana | Tashkent | 1 h 50 min – 2 h 30 min | Air Astana, FlyArystan, Uzbekistan Airways, Centrum Air |
| Almaty | Samarkand | 1 h 50 min | FlyArystan (Tuesdays and Saturdays, late October to late March) |
| Aktobe | Tashkent | 2 h 10 min | Centrum Air (night flight) |
There are no flights from Shymkent, and you do not need one: Tashkent is about 120 km away, so people go by train or by road, as described below.
The Almaty–Samarkand flight is handy if you want to start with the Did you know? The Registan's sun-carrying lion went on a banknote The Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636) is named for the big cats with the sun on their backs on its portal. The image appeared on the reverse of Uzbekistan's 200-som note of 1997. Read more → and finish in Tashkent, travelling the country in one direction. Timetables change with the season, so check the days of operation for your dates before you buy. More on airports and connections is in our guide to flights to Uzbekistan. In Tashkent our driver meets you: we arrange an airport or station transfer.
The train from Almaty and Shymkent
Since December 2025 the Almaty–Tashkent train has run every day. It leaves Almaty-2 at 19:05 and reaches Tashkent-Central at 12:58 the next day, just under 18 hours. From Shymkent you board the same train at 06:25 and step off in Tashkent six and a half hours later. The return train leaves Tashkent at 14:41 and arrives in Almaty at 08:51.
A midday arrival leaves the afternoon for the city, and the next morning you can continue by high-speed train: the Uzbekistan's high-speed train: Tashkent to Samarkand in 2 hours 30 minutes, Tashkent to Bukhara in about 4 hours. Tickets are tied to your passport. Read more → takes 2 h 13 min from Tashkent to Samarkand. How to book is in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan.
By road: the Kaplanbek – Navoi crossing
From Shymkent to Tashkent it is about 120 km by road. On foot, by car or by bus, you cross the border at Kaplanbek – Navoi, a crossing that has been open since February 2025 and is built for up to 20,000 people a day.
The easiest way to do it: you cross the border, and our car with a driver waits for you on the Uzbek side to take you to your hotel or straight on along the route. Send us your plan and the time you expect to cross, and we will set the meeting point.
Entry: no visa, with your passport
Citizens of Kazakhstan do not need a 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 → for Uzbekistan. You enter with your Kazakh passport, which should be valid for at least six months after the trip. Children need their own document and their birth certificate.
You can stay up to 30 days from the date of entry without registration, and no more than 90 days in any 180. On a tour you will hardly notice any of this: hotels register guests at check-in. Keep the registration slips until you leave the country.
Cash can be brought in freely; amounts above 100 million sum must be declared. Customs details are in our article on registration and customs; if someone in your group holds another passport, the rules for them are in our visa guide.
Money: a card, dollars and some sum
Visa and Mastercard work at almost every card terminal here: hotels, restaurants, shops and railway stations. If your card carries one of these logos, you can pay with it wherever there is a terminal; ask your bank about fees for payments and withdrawals abroad before you go. You need cash at the bazaar, at street stalls and in some taxis.
We do not advise bringing tenge as your main currency. On 13 October 2026 only three banks in Uzbekistan listed tenge exchange: Kapitalbank, Anor Bank and Xalq Banki. US dollars are changed by every bank and exchange office. Change money only at banks and official exchange offices, and take your passport. Details are in where to exchange currency and cards, cash and tipping.
Uzbekistan tours from Kazakhstan: which format fits
You buy the ticket to Tashkent or Samarkand yourself, and we handle everything on the ground: hotels, train tickets, guides and transfers. Send us your arrival time, whether by plane, by train or at the border, and we build the programme around it. Three formats work especially well from Kazakhstan.
A week on the .A network of caravan routes between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva grew rich as stops along it. Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva in eight days is our 8-day classic tour. How we lay out such a week is in Uzbekistan in 7 days.
A weekend in Tashkent. There are nonstop flights from Almaty to Tashkent every day, and the flight takes an hour and a half, so two or three days in the capital are easy to fit in. What to see is in Tashkent in 1 or 2 days, and where to go after dark is in evening Tashkent.
Samarkand in a day. If you have only a long weekend, add one day for Samarkand: we leave Tashkent by car at six in the morning, spend the whole day in the city and are back in the evening. That is our Samarkand in a day from Tashkent.
Not sure which route fits your dates? Our tour finder will narrow it down.
Turkestan, Aisha Bibi and the big loop
Turkestan is 160 km north-west of Shymkent, in your own country. Our article Turkestan from Tashkent is written for guests who travel there from Uzbekistan, but its pages on the Did you know? Legend says Yasawi spent his last years in an underground cell Legend and his biographers say Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, the Sufi poet of Turkestan, withdrew at 63, the age at which the Prophet died, into a cell he dug underground. His Divan-i Hikmat, the "Book of Wisdom", is still read in Turkic. Read more → mausoleum are just as useful if you pass Turkestan on your way south to the border.
On the road from Almaty to Shymkent, 18 km west of Taraz, stands the Did you know? Legend says Aisha Bibi was a bride who never reached her groom Legend says Aisha set out to marry Karakhan, ruler of Taraz, against her father's will, and he raised this tomb for her; there are about 28 versions. The real 11th–12th-century mausoleum is clad in carved terracotta in some 60 patterns. Read more → mausoleum with its carved terracotta; we tell its story in the legend of Aisha Bibi. And if you want a longer circuit with the neighbours, see our loop through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia tours: both start in Tashkent, so you can join them after a few days in Uzbekistan.
When to go
The season for a city trip runs from March to June and from September to November; see when to go. For month-by-month detail, start with Uzbekistan in October or Uzbekistan in March.
In short
- Nonstop flights from Almaty and Astana to Tashkent, about 1.5–2.5 hours; from Almaty also to Samarkand, and from Aktobe to Tashkent.
- The Almaty–Tashkent train runs daily: 19:05 from Almaty, 06:25 from Shymkent, 12:58 in Tashkent.
- By road, cross the border at Kaplanbek – Navoi; our driver can meet you on the Uzbek side.
- No visa for citizens of Kazakhstan, and no registration for the first 30 days; hotels register you at check-in anyway.
- Pay by Visa or Mastercard, carry dollars for cash, and leave tenge at home: few banks here change it.
