Uzbekistan tours from South Korea: flights from Seoul, visa-free entry and the ambassadors of Afrasiyab

From Incheon. In its November 2026 timetable Uzbekistan Airways flies from Incheon to Tashkent every day. On six days a week the flight leaves at 10:00 and lands at 13:10; on Sundays it leaves at 07:50 and lands at 11:00. The flight takes 7 h 10 min.

The way back. Flights to Incheon leave Tashkent at 22:30 on most days and at 20:15 on Saturdays, and land in Korea the next morning after 6 h 10 min. This means your last day in Uzbekistan can be a full day: we take you to the airport in the evening, and you are back in Seoul by morning.

From other cities in Korea. Connect through Incheon. 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. To make the arrival easier, we arrange fast-track passport control at Tashkent airport and a transfer to your hotel.

In 1965 a road was being built across Afrasiyab, the hill where Samarkand stood before the Mongol conquest. The bulldozers uncovered the walls of a room covered in paintings. They date from the middle of the 7th century, probably 648–651, and are known as the Paintings of the Ambassadors. A Sogdian inscription on the main, western wall names King Varkhuman of Samarkand, and the wall shows envoys from many lands arriving with gifts.

Among them are two men with two feathers on their headdresses and swords at their belts. Many researchers identify them as envoys from Goguryeo. Others think the painters may have taken the image from Chinese art rather than from envoys they saw themselves. Our guides tell you both versions, and you can look at the figures and decide for yourself.

The paintings are in the Afrasiyab Museum, on the hill itself. In March 2024 its first-floor halls reopened after a two-year renovation led by the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea. The museum closes at 17:00, so we plan it for the morning; opening hours for all the Samarkand sights are in our page on tickets and hours. This wall is the starting point of our Ambassadors of Afrasiyab tour.

Tashkent is where you land, and it is worth a day of its own. The metro opened in 1977, the first in Central Asia, and every station has its own theme and its own artists; photography underground has been allowed since 2018. Our metro guide picks the stations worth a stop.

In the evening the city moves outdoors. The park in the Tashkent City business district, opened in 2019, has a 200-metre musical fountain on its lake. Seoul Mun, a new embankment on the Burjar canal opened in 2023, is named after Seoul Street, and its colour-music fountains play every day from 17:00 to 22:15. We show both on an evening tour of Tashkent; more ideas are in Tashkent after dark.

Between the cities you travel by fast train. The Afrosiyob, a Spanish Talgo, takes 2 hours 30 minutes from Tashkent to Samarkand and under 2 hours from Samarkand to Bukhara.

Since May 2026 the Jaloliddin Manguberdi, a high-speed train built by Hyundai Rotem, has run from Tashkent through Samarkand and Bukhara to Khiva; a second trainset joined it in July. It leaves Tashkent at 7:00 every day except Sunday, and the whole journey takes about 7.5 hours. Tickets go on sale 60 days before departure, and these trains sell out, so we book as soon as your dates are fixed. Classes, stations and boarding are explained in our guide to trains in Uzbekistan.

The 2027 calendar of public holidays in Korea, published in June 2026, gives you several good windows.

• Chuseok, 14–16 September 2027 (Tuesday to Thursday). Take Monday 13 and Friday 17 off, and you have nine days in a row. September afternoons are about 30 °C in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, nights 12–14 °C, and it is the driest month of the season.
• National Foundation Day and Hangul Day give two long weekends in October 2027: 2–4 and 9–11 October. October afternoons are around 22 °C, the most comfortable weather of the year for long walking days.
• Seollal, 6–9 February 2027. Winter: about 10 °C in the afternoon and around zero at night in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, colder in Khiva. Quiet sights and short queues, but bring a warm coat.
• Summer holidays in July and August are the hottest time, with afternoons of 35–37 °C. We start sightseeing early and spend the hot hours indoors, or take you up to the mountains near Tashkent.

Month by month: Uzbekistan in September, in October and our 2027 festival calendar.

You book the flight, and we take care of everything on the ground: hotels, train tickets, guides and transfers, timed to your arrival and your evening flight home.

Five days. Tashkent and Samarkand: a day in the capital, the fast train, and two days in Samarkand with a private guide for the highlights and the Afrasiyab museum. How we lay out the city is in Samarkand in 1, 2 or 3 days.

A week. Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara: our Ambassadors of Afrasiyab tour takes seven days, with two more in Khiva on request. A similar plan with Khiva is in Uzbekistan in 7 days.

Eight to ten days. All four cities: our 8-day classic tour, or Uzbekistan by train, which includes the Korean-built train to Khiva. At an easier pace: Uzbekistan in 10 days. Not sure which fits your dates? Try our tour finder.

Food. Uzbek food is built around meat, bread and rice. Plov, the national rice dish, is cooked differently in every city; non, the round bread from a clay tandir oven, comes with every meal; green tea is poured all day. Our guide to plov in Uzbekistan explains what to order. Tell us about your food preferences when you book, and we take them into account when we plan the meals.

Money. Visa and Mastercard work at most card terminals in the cities; cash in som is for bazaars and small shops. More in cards, cash and tipping.

Phone and plugs. Roaming and travel eSIMs need nothing, and a local SIM works in your phone for 60 days without IMEI registration, which covers any tour; details are in bringing a phone. Sockets are types C and F, the same as in Korea, so your chargers fit without an adapter.

Language. Our guides work in English and Russian. If you would like a Korean-speaking guide, tell us when you book, and we will check availability for your dates.