Tashkent tours to Amirsoy and Chimgan
- 2 excursions
- Pickup from your door
- 9:00 to 19:00, same day
- Kia Sportage 2024, up to 4 guests
Tour around Tashkent
A full day through the Tashkent people actually come here for: the old town around Khast-Imam, the domes of Chorsu bazaar, the palace of a Romanov grand duke, pilaf straight out of the kazan at Besh Qozon, and the museums, squares and mosaic metro stations of the modern centre. We collect you at 9:00, drive between every stop so nothing is a walk in the heat, and have you back at your door by 19:00 the same evening. Ten stops, one car, no group to keep up with.
- 9:00 to 19:00, one day
- Up to 4 guests
- Kia Sportage 2024
Tour program
- Khast-Imam Square, the religious centre of the capital
- Chorsu Bazaar, one of the largest bazaars in Uzbekistan and Central Asia
- The palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov
- Lunch at the famous Central Asian pilaf centre Besh Qozon
- The Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan
- Magic City, the modern park built around a lake
- Minor Mosque, in white marble above the Ankhor canal
- Independence Square
- The Amir Temur Museum
- The Tashkent metro, the first in Central Asia, and its mosaic stations
I will also walk the route with you and advise you where it is worth going inside.
Tour to the mountains of the Tashkent region
The mountain day locals take at the weekend. Ninety minutes out of the city the road climbs through Gazalkent into the Bostanlyk valleys and the whole Western Tian Shan opens up: the Amirsoy resort and its gondola, the ridges under Greater Chimgan, the turquoise Charvak reservoir and the glazed cabins of the Chinorkent cable car. Lunch is at the Fayz cafe in the mountains. We collect you at 9:00 and have you back at your door by 19:00, with as long as you want at every stop.
Practical notes before you book
Both excursions run on the same shape of day and in the same car, so the only real decisions left to you are the date and which of the two you want first. 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 route around the city works in any weather. Here is everything we tell guests before they choose.
When to go where
| Excursion | Best months | What it is like |
|---|---|---|
| Tour around Tashkent | All year | Mosques, museums and bazaars work in any weather; spring and autumn are the most comfortable on foot |
| Tour to the mountains | All year | Snow and working lifts December to March, alpine meadows from May, swimming at Charvak June to September |
How the day runs
- 9:00 — the driver is at your apartment or hotel, no meeting point to find
- The Tashkent route works from the old town through the museums and the squares to Magic City
- The mountain route climbs through Gazalkent into the Bostanlyk valleys, about ninety minutes out
- Lunch is built into both days — Besh Qozon in the city, the Fayz cafe in the mountains
- Your driver walks the sites with you and advises where a ticket is worth buying
- 19:00 — back at the door you were collected from, the same evening
- Up to 10 hours in total; a later finish is possible if you agree it the day before
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 museum tickets, mountain cafes and lifts
- A water bottle, refilled before you leave the apartment
- A passport or ID, which some museums and mountain resorts still ask to see
The car you travel in
Both excursions are driven in our own Kia Sportage 2024, a business-class compact SUV, by a driver with 22 years behind the wheel. It 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.
The mountain excursion runs 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 there it is visibility rather than temperature that decides whether the ridge is worth the ride — and we will tell you honestly the evening before. The tour around Tashkent runs in any weather, because most of it is indoors or in the shade.
Yes. Both excursions start at your door at 9:00, whether you are staying in one of our apartments or in a hotel elsewhere in Tashkent, and end at the same door by 19:00. 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.