Tashkent tours to Amirsoy and Chimgan
- 7 excursions
- Pickup from your door
- Mountain days 9:00 to 18:00
- Kia Sportage, up to 4 guests
Seven excursions we drive ourselves
The four mountain routes all run on the same shape of day: pickup from wherever you are staying at 9:00, the climb up through Gazalkent into the Bostanlyk valleys, as long as you want at the destination, and back at your door by 18:00. The three city excursions are shorter — half a day for the metro and Besh Qozon, an evening for Magic City. Every route: up to four guests, one car, one driver who has done the road in every season.
Amirsoy mountain resort
The newest mountain resort in Uzbekistan and the easiest full day in the mountains. Ninety minutes of driving through the Chirchik valley, then the whole middle of the day at 1,500 metres with terraces, trails, lifts and enough space to do nothing at all.
- Up to 9 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- The climb through Gazalkent and the Bostanlyk orchards
- Free time at the resort base — terraces, cafes and walking trails
- Lifts and snow from December, alpine meadows from May
Greater Chimgan
The classic Tashkent mountain day. Greater Chimgan rises to 3,309 metres above the Charvak basin, and the road to its foot hands you the whole Western Tian Shan skyline in a single afternoon — meadows and horses in summer, deep quiet snow in winter.
- Up to 9 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- The Chimgan plateau under the 3,309 m summit
- Viewpoints looking down onto the Charvak reservoir
- Mountain cafes, horse riding and open meadows in summer
Charvak reservoir
A turquoise reservoir held between bare ochre ridges, an hour and a quarter out of the city and the shortest drive of the five. Swimming and boats from June through September, empty shorelines and remarkably clear air for the rest of the year.
- Up to 9 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- The dam viewpoint over the length of the reservoir
- Time on the shore — swimming and boat hire in summer
- Lunch at a restaurant looking out over the water
Chinorkent cable car
One of the most reliable and safest gondola lines in the world, and the one day of the four where the ride itself is the destination. The cabins are fully glazed, so the view is circular and uninterrupted from the moment you leave the lower station — close enough to the slope to feel part of it.
- Up to 9 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- Fully glazed cabins with an uninterrupted circular view
- A calm, unhurried crossing above the gorge and the pine slopes
- Built and maintained to some of the strictest safety standards there are
Tashkent metro architecture
The first metro in Central Asia, and one of the very few you would ride for the ceilings alone. Chandeliers, carved marble and cosmonaut mosaics thirty metres underground — and photography has only been officially allowed since 1 June 2018, which is why almost nobody outside the country has seen it.
- Half day, 3–4 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- Kosmonavtlar, Minor, Toshkent, Pakhtakor and Alisher Navoi
- Cosmonaut medallions, domed mosaic halls and carved marble
- Filming allowed since June 2018 — bring a camera
Besh Qozon and the bazaars
Uzbekistan is known for plov, and Besh Qozon is where the country makes it at scale: roughly one and a half tonnes in a single day, out of open kazans wide enough to stand in. Afterwards we take you through the big bazaars, where the fruit rows are the part guests actually write to us about.
- Half day, 3–4 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- Plov straight from the kazan at the Central Asian Plov Centre
- The big bazaars — spices, non bread, dried fruit and melons
- Which rows sell the sweet fruit, and what it should cost
Magic City evening
The one route that starts after sunset. Magic City is a park built around a lake, with castle architecture that only really works in the dark, when the floodlights and the musical fountains come on. Walking the grounds costs nothing; the rides, the shows and the restaurants are what you pay for, and we will tell you which of them are worth it.
- Evening, 3 to 4 hours
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage
- Castle architecture and the lake under floodlight after sunset
- The musical fountain show, worth arriving before dark for
- Free to walk in, so you only pay for the rides and the restaurants
Practical notes before you book
The mountain routes run on the same day shape and the same car, so the only real decisions left to you are the date and the destination. The mountains around Tashkent change completely between seasons, and the difference between a good day and a cold one is usually a jacket and a start time. The three city excursions work in any weather. Here is everything we tell guests before they choose.
When to go where
| Destination | Best months | What it is like |
|---|---|---|
| Amirsoy | All year | Snow and lifts from December, alpine meadows and trails from May |
| Chimgan | All year | Open meadows April to October, snow above 2,000 m from November |
| Charvak | June to September | Warm enough to swim; clear air and empty shorelines the rest of the year |
| Chinorkent | All year | Glazed cabins in any weather; best on a clear day for the full circular view |
| Tashkent metro | All year | Entirely underground, so weather and season are irrelevant |
| Besh Qozon and the bazaars | All year | Go before 13:00 — when the kazan is finished, it is finished |
| Magic City | All year | An evening route — the floodlights and the fountain show start after dark |
How the day runs
- 9:00 — the driver is at your apartment or hotel, no meeting point to find
- 9:00 to 10:30 — the climb through Gazalkent into the Bostanlyk valleys
- 10:30 onwards — time at the destination at your pace, not on a group clock
- Lunch wherever you prefer — a mountain cafe, a restaurant above the water, or one you bring
- 18:00 — back at the door you were collected from
- Up to 9 hours in total; a later finish is possible if you agree it the day before
- City excursions are three to four hours — morning or afternoon for the metro and Besh Qozon, after sunset for Magic City
Drive times from the centre
- Amirsoy — about 1 hour 30 minutes
- Chimgan — about 1 hour 45 minutes
- Charvak reservoir — about 1 hour 15 minutes
- Chinorkent — about 1 hour 30 minutes
- Gazalkent, the last town before the climb — about 50 minutes
What to bring
- Layers rather than one thick coat — the mountains run ten degrees colder than the city
- Shoes with grip for anything above the cable car stations
- Sunglasses and sunscreen, the altitude is deceptive even in winter
- Some cash in som for mountain cafes, lifts and lakeside restaurants
- A water bottle, refilled before you leave the apartment
- A passport or ID, which some mountain resorts still ask to see
The car you travel in
Every day trip and every transfer we run is driven in our own Kia Sportage. It is a compact SUV, which is the right car for this particular road: high enough for the mountain sections above Gazalkent, small enough to park at a crowded viewpoint, and comfortable enough that ninety minutes each way does not feel like the price of the day.
- Four passenger seats, so a family or two couples travel together in one car
- Air conditioning through the summer and a warm cabin on winter mornings
- Boot space for daypacks, ski gear or airport luggage on the way through
- The same driver all day, in Russian, Uzbek or English
Pickup and where we collect you
Every day trip begins wherever you are sleeping. If you are staying in one of our apartments in Tashkent city center the driver comes to the courtyard at the agreed time, and if you are in a hotel anywhere else in the city we collect you from the lobby at no extra cost. Guests arriving on an early flight often go straight from the airport into a mountain day with their luggage in the boot, which we are happy to arrange as part of the transfer.
Frequently asked questions
Amirsoy is roughly eighty kilometres from the centre of Tashkent and the drive takes about an hour and a half, climbing steadily into the Western Tian Shan. Chimgan sits a little further along the same road, the Charvak reservoir is on the way at about an hour and a quarter, and Chinorkent is roughly the same distance as Amirsoy. That is why every route we run fits comfortably into one day rather than needing an overnight stay.
All four mountain routes run all year, and the season changes what you get rather than whether you can go. Amirsoy has snow and working lifts from December to March, then turns green from May with alpine meadows and walking trails. Chimgan is open from April to October and holds snow above 2,000 metres from November. Charvak is at its best from June to September, when the water is warm enough to swim. The Chinorkent cabins are enclosed, so on that day it is visibility rather than temperature that decides whether it is worth going — and we will tell you honestly the evening before.
Yes. Every day trip starts at your door at 9:00, whether you are staying in one of our apartments or in a hotel elsewhere in Tashkent, and ends at the same door by 18:00. You travel in our own Kia Sportage with room for four guests, and the same driver stays with you for the whole day. Tell us where you are on WhatsApp and we agree the pickup time the evening before.