Things to do in Tashkent

Best Things to do in Tashkent

Planning a trip and wondering about the top things to do in Tashkent? From historic landmarks to modern experiences, the city offers something for every traveller, making it a perfect getaway in 2026.

With over 169 activities in Tashkent, there is plenty to explore. Visit some of the most popular tourist attractions in , including iconic sites, vibrant neighbourhoods and cultural hubs. Whether you’re exploring bustling markets, sampling local delicacies or relaxing at scenic spots, every corner has something new to discover.

With experiences starting at INR 1625, it’s never been easier to plan your perfect trip. Make the most of your visit to Tashkent in January and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Things to do in Tashkent: Traditions and Modern Life in the Uzbek Capital

About Tashkent

Tashkent is a city that does not reveal itself at once. Wide boulevards sweep past Soviet-era buildings, yet step into an old quarter and you hear the hum of markets much as travellers did on the Silk Road. The call of a seller, the smell of hot bread from a clay oven, the weight of spices in the air — all of it mixes with the sound of cars and the sight of glass towers rising nearby.

It is a place of contrasts that sit comfortably together. Metro stations gleam with marble and mosaics, while just above ground you might find a quiet tea house shaded by vines. In the evenings, families walk slowly through tree-lined parks, children chase each other by fountains, and older men gather on benches to talk. There is movement but not hurry, and it makes the city feel approachable even to a stranger.

For many visitors, Tashkent is a starting point before moving on to Samarkand or Bukhara. But pausing here has its rewards. You can stand before centuries-old Qurans in the Hazrat Imam Complex, step into a ceramics workshop where hands still shape clay the way they did generations ago, and end the day at a bazaar where piles of fruit glow under yellow light. Tashkent carries the layers of its past while still leaning forward, and that balance is what gives the city its voice.

Unique Experiences

Chorsu Bazaar and Plov Cooking Experience in Tashkent

The first thing that reaches you is the sound. Sellers calling, buyers answering, the scrape of baskets on stone floors. Then the smell follows — hot bread, fresh herbs, spices ground that morning. Chorsu Bazaar is full of colour, from bright fruit piled high to rows of rice waiting for the pot. Here plov is more than food, it is a ritual. You stand with a local cook as rice is washed clean, carrots sliced into thin strips, meat lowered into the heavy kazan where it sizzles. The lesson is simple, yet it feels like an invitation into daily life. By the time you taste it, steaming and rich, you understand why this dish is at the centre of Uzbek tables.

• Where: Chorsu Bazaar, Old Town Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 4,000 to INR 6,000 per person
• Timing: Tour shows a 9:00 AM start on the booking calendar.
• When to Visit: All year, though mornings are liveliest with fresh produce

Uzbekistan Craft Workshop: Pottery and Ceramics in Tashkent

In a quiet studio the noise of the city fades. Clay turns slowly on the wheel, water shines on its surface, and under the teacher’s hands a shape begins to form. When you sit at the wheel yourself the clay resists, leaning one way or another, but gentle guidance steadies it. Patterns and glazes are shown with care, each carrying a story of family and tradition. You leave with something uneven but real, a piece that carries your effort and the memory of craft passed down for generations.

• Where: Local artisan studio, Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 3,500 to INR 5,000 per person
• Timing: Sessions are offered in set slots shown at checkout. Many providers list late morning and early afternoon options.
• When to Visit: All year, though cooler months make the studio more comfortable

Tashkent Evening Food and Walking Tour

As the light softens the city changes pace. Lamps flicker on, fountains glow, and the smell of grilled kebabs drifts through the streets. On this evening tour you walk with a guide who leads you to favourite stalls and cafés. Lagman noodles served hot, samsa pulled from clay ovens, sweet halvah to finish. Between stops you wander past squares where families stroll and music drifts in the background. It feels less like a tour and more like being shown a city through its flavours. By the end of the night, Tashkent feels closer, more familiar.

• Where: The walk usually begins from one of the main squares in central Tashkent
• Pricing: Expect to pay between INR 3,500 and INR 5,500 per person
• Timing: Food tours list fixed starts on the calendar. One popular option shows a 9:00 AM start; other operators display additional afternoon or evening slots on the date picker.
• When to Visit: Available throughout the year, with spring and autumn evenings offering the most comfortable weather

Top Attractions

Kukeldash Madrasah Guided Visit

Step through the arched gateway and the bustle of the city falls behind. The courtyard of Kukeldash Madrasah is quiet, framed by brick walls and rows of student cells. Once this was a place of learning, where scholars debated under the shade of trees. Today it is still calm, still carrying the rhythm of prayer and study. Guides tell you stories of its role in the sixteenth century and point out the subtle details of the tilework. You feel history pressing close, not in a grand way but in the stillness of the place.

• Where: Near Chorsu Bazaar, Old Town Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 1,500 to INR 2,500 per person for guided entry
• Timing: Guided visits are scheduled in bookable blocks by tour providers, shown at checkout after you pick a date.
• When to Visit: All year, with spring offering softer light for photographs

Amir Timur Square and Museum Tour

At the centre of Tashkent stands Amir Timur on horseback, cast in bronze, steady and commanding. Around him the square opens wide with gardens, fountains, and broad walks. Locals gather here in the evenings, and visitors stop to take in the view of government buildings and the museum that carries Timur’s name. Inside the museum, glass cases shine with manuscripts, weapons, and maps, all linked to the empire he once ruled. The square feels modern, but the statue and the museum anchor it to a deeper past.

• Where: Amir Timur Square, central Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 2,000 to INR 3,000 per person including museum entry
• Timing: Providers display set start times on the calendar once you choose the date. Expect morning and early afternoon departures most days.
• When to Visit: All year, evenings on the square are especially lively

Hazrat Imam Complex Admission and Tour

You enter through quiet gates and step into a courtyard that feels set apart from the city outside. The air is still, warmed by the sun against stone walls. A few birds move overhead, and voices drop low without anyone being told. Around you stand mosques and madrasahs, their arches and domes holding centuries of memory.

The library is where most visitors pause longest. Inside rests the Uthman Quran, pages heavy with age, the script dark against parchment. Guides explain its journey here, but the room itself says enough. People stand quietly, some leaning closer, some simply watching in silence. It is less a museum and more a place where history and faith remain present at the same time.

• Where: Barak Khan Madrasah area, Old Town Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 2,500 to INR 3,500 per person
• Timing: Tours list fixed departures on the date picker. Morning starts are common and easiest for a calmer visit.
• When to Visit: All year, mornings are calmer and the light softer in the courtyards

Sightseeing Tours

Private Half-Day Tashkent City Tour

A car takes you further than your feet can, and in Tashkent that means seeing how quickly one district shifts into another. Wide boulevards give way to quiet courtyards, then back again to open squares. A guide explains the stories that tie them together — why a monument stands where it does, how a park was shaped, which mosque has drawn visitors for centuries. Between stops you notice daily life passing by, children walking home from school, old men gathered in the shade, the hum of the city never quite fading. By the time the tour ends, you have not only seen the landmarks but also traced the rhythm that connects them.

• Where: Pick up from central Tashkent hotels
• Pricing: INR 4,000 to INR 6,000 per person
• Timing: Tour starts from 10:00 AM
• When to Visit: Year round, though spring and autumn are most comfortable

Tashkent City Highlights Walking Tour

On foot the city feels closer. You hear the sound of traffic fading as you turn into an older street, the sudden hush broken by the call of a vendor or the clang of a tram in the distance. A guide shows you where Soviet mosaics stretch across tall walls and where a madrasa courtyard still carries the quiet of prayer. The walk is unhurried. You stop often, sometimes to taste bread pulled fresh from a clay oven, sometimes just to look at a carving you might have missed without a voice pointing it out. By the end, the city feels less like a map and more like a place with its own rhythm.

• Where: Begins from a central square in Tashkent
• Pricing: Expect between INR 2,500 and INR 3,500 per person
• Timing: Around three hours, usually in the morning or afternoon
• When to Visit: Any season, though spring and autumn bring the most pleasant walks

Day Trips

Chimgan Mountains and Charvak Lake Day Trip from Tashkent

The road out of Tashkent climbs steadily, and soon the city disappears behind you. The air turns cooler, the hills sharper, and the colours of the mountains begin to change with the light. By the time you reach Chimgan the peaks rise close, with trails winding through valleys and streams cutting across stone. Further on lies Charvak Lake, blue and still against the ridges. Locals come here to swim or sit by the shore, and visitors often take boats onto the water to see the mountains reflected back at them. It is a day of contrasts — quiet slopes, bright water, and the sense of space that comes only when the city is far away.

• Where: Chimgan Mountains and Charvak Lake, about two hours from Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 6,000 to INR 8,500 per person
• Timing: Full day tour, around nine to ten hours. One frequently booked option shows a 9:00 AM departure.
• When to Visit: May to September for clear trails and warm water

Samarkand Day Tour from Tashkent by High-Speed Train

Samarkand is the jewel of Uzbekistan, and from Tashkent the train carries you there in only a few hours. The ride itself is part of the experience, passing fields and villages until the domes of Registan rise into view. In Samarkand you walk among madrasahs covered in blue tiles, each one glittering in the sun. The scale is immense, yet small details — a carved door, a pattern of stars on a dome — hold your attention just as strongly. A guide takes you through mosques, markets, and squares, but there are moments when you forget the group and simply stand still. The day is long, but it feels like stepping into a story told for centuries.

• Where: Samarkand, reached by high-speed train from Tashkent
• Pricing: INR 9,000 to INR 12,000 per person
• Timing: Tour starts from 7:00 AM
• When to Visit: March to May and September to November for clear skies and moderate heat

Boat or Cruise Tours

Charvak Lake Boat Ride Experience

From the bank the lake looks calm, almost flat. Out on the water it changes. Small ripples break against the boat, the light shifts as clouds move, and the air feels suddenly fresher. Mountains close in from every side, their outlines blurred in the reflection below. Someone on shore lifts a hand in a wave. Farther along, a man waits with a fishing rod that barely stirs. Nothing here feels rushed. The boat moves slowly, and time seems to move with it.

• Where: Boats leave from the small docks around Charvak Lake, about two hours from Tashkent
• Pricing: Expect to pay around INR 3,000 to INR 5,000 per person
• Timing: Usually one to two hours on the water, with trips offered through the day
• When to Visit: Best between May and September, when the air is warm and the lake is clear

Charvak Lake Leisure Cruise with Mountain Views

The boat nudges away from the pier. Water taps the hull. A low engine note, then a hush as the shoreline slips back. Sun on the lake breaks into small bright freckles. The ridges above Chimgan sit blue and layered, further than they look. Someone leans on the rail and closes their eyes. Another guest takes a photograph and then forgets the camera. Dragonflies skim the surface. The deck smells faintly of warm wood and a hint of fuel. Words come and go, mostly people just watch. Time stretches a little out here.

• Where: Charvak Lake in the Tashkent region, with departures from small local marinas
• Pricing: Typically between INR 4,000 and INR 6,000 per person
• Timing: Two to three hours on the water, most often in the morning or late afternoon
• When to Visit: Best from May to September when the lake is calm and visibility is clear

Getting Around

Tashkent stretches wide, but the centre is easier to handle than it first appears. Walking works for short distances. Streets open into leafy squares, metro entrances appear suddenly with mosaics glittering inside, and side lanes carry you toward markets where voices rise over the sound of traffic.

On Foot

Old Town lanes and the areas around Amir Timur Square are best explored slowly. You notice the smell of bread from a clay oven, or a carved door that might be missed from a car window.

By Metro

The metro feels like a gallery beneath the ground. Marble, chandeliers, mosaics — each station carries a theme. Trains are regular and cheap, and the ride is part of the city’s character, not only transport.

By Car

For sights that sit further apart, a car is practical. Wide avenues cut across the city, and in a short time you can move from modern squares to older neighbourhoods or out toward the suburbs.

By Bike

In spring and autumn, cycling along quieter streets or the paths near canals gives a slower view of the city. The heat of summer makes this harder, but in cooler months it is a calm way to move.

Movement here is not just about getting from one stop to the next. Each choice — walking, metro, car, bike — changes the way the city shows itself.

Traveller Tips

• Begin at the Bazaar
  Start with Chorsu. Morning is best, when the domed hall is loud with sellers and the smell of bread is strongest. It sets the tone for the city.
• Carry Small Cash
  Markets, taxis, and street stalls often work better with notes in hand. Cards are common in hotels and larger shops, but coins and small bills make life easier.
• Dress with Respect
  Light clothes work in the heat, but keep shoulders and knees covered for mosques and religious sites. A scarf for women is useful in case it is needed.
• Time for Tea
  Do not rush through the city. Sit in a tea house, sip slowly, and notice the pace of people around you. Tashkent moves more gently than it looks at first.
• Seasons Matter
  Summer can be hot and dry. Spring and autumn are easier for walking and exploring. Winter brings snow some years, which changes the atmosphere completely.
• Evenings Outside
  After sunset, fountains light up and families gather in squares. It is a calm way to see the city. For travellers looking for things to do in Tashkent at night, these walks feel both safe and lively.
• Day Trips Need Planning
  Chimgan and Samarkand are possible in one day but long. Start early, carry water, and expect the return to be late.
• Learn a Few Words
  Even simple greetings in Uzbek or Russian are welcomed. Smiles and effort open doors as much as tickets do.