Overview
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and the largest city in Central Asia — a mostly modern metropolis rebuilt after a 1966 earthquake, and the country's gateway and transport hub, where an art-filled Soviet metro, sprawling bazaars and the ancient heart of Islamic learning sit side by side.
Travel
Most trips to Uzbekistan begin and end in Tashkent, and while it lacks the tiled grandeur of the Silk Road cities, the capital rewards a day at either end. A devastating earthquake in 1966 levelled much of the old town, and the Soviet city rebuilt in its place is wide, green and orderly — its showpiece the metro, whose stations were designed as marble-and-mosaic works of art and, having been off-limits to cameras for decades, were finally cleared for photography in 2018, making a ride between them a sight in itself and the easiest way to cross the city, as the getting-around guide explains. What survived and predates all this is the religious and market heart: the Khast-Imam complex, home to what is held to be one of the world's oldest Qurans, and the great Chorsu bazaar under its turquoise dome, piled with the spices, bread and fruit of the region. Around the modern core, leafy boulevards, the ceremonial Amir Timur Square and a scatter of good museums fill the hours, while the city's plov centres serve the capital's own take on the national dish, covered in the food guide. Tashkent is the practical hinge of any itinerary — the main international gateway and the hub of the Afrosiyob rail network — but it is a pleasant, workaday introduction to the country in its own right.
Tashkent's defining experience is its metro. Built in the Soviet era over notoriously difficult, earthquake-prone ground, each station was conceived as a separate architectural set piece — marble columns, carved ganch plaster, chandeliers and mosaics on themes from cosmonauts to Uzbek poets — and because the system doubled as a civil-defence structure, photography was banned until 2018, which is partly why the stations feel so pristine. Riding a few stops purely to see them, Kosmonavtlar and Alisher Navoi among the finest, is one of the best-value hours in the city. Above ground, the metro tells the wider story of Tashkent: the 1966 earthquake that destroyed much of the old low-rise town, the sweeping Soviet reconstruction of wide avenues and parks that followed, and the glassy new districts of the independence era layered on top.
Frequently asked questions
Diplomatic missions in Tashkent
3 embassies based in this city, grouped by region.
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