Tashkent Airport to the City: Every Option and Cost
Getting from Tashkent airport into town: Yandex Go fares, the bus routes, what the taxi touts charge, and what to do when you land at three in the morning.
The airport sits about 12 km from the centre of Tashkent, which is close enough that no transfer should cost you more than a few dollars. The gap between what it should cost and what a tout at arrivals will ask is the entire subject of this article.
A great many flights into Tashkent land between 02:00 and 06:00, so the version of this problem most travellers face is the middle-of-the-night one. That's covered below too.
The options at a glance
| Option | Cost | Time to centre | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yandex Go | 30,000 to 60,000 soum | 15 to 25 min | Almost everyone |
| Official airport taxi desk | around 60,000 soum | 15 to 25 min | No local SIM yet |
| Tout at arrivals | 150,000 to 300,000 soum asked | 15 to 25 min | Nobody |
| City bus | about 1,700 soum | 40 to 70 min | Daytime, light luggage |
| Hotel transfer | $15 to $30 | 15 to 25 min | Night arrivals, families |
Figures are from September 2026, at roughly 11,800 soum to the dollar. They move with fuel prices and with the hour.
Yandex Go, the default answer
Yandex Go is the ride app that works in Uzbekistan, and it's what locals use. You get a fixed fare before you accept, which removes the argument entirely, and you can pay the driver in cash.
Expect 30,000 to 60,000 soum into the centre, or roughly $2.50 to $5. It rises at peak times and when several flights land together. The catch is that you need data to order a car, which means either roaming, an eSIM bought before you flew, or a local SIM from the arrivals hall. Our notes on using taxi apps here cover the account setup and the payment quirks foreigners run into, and it's genuinely worth doing that before you travel rather than standing in arrivals at 04:00 trying to receive a verification SMS.
One practical wrinkle: pickup points are outside the terminal rather than at the door. Walk out, then order, then match the plate.
The official taxi desk
There's a staffed taxi counter past baggage reclaim in Terminal 2. Fares are fixed and higher than the app, around 60,000 soum, and you pay at the desk rather than negotiating with a driver.
We'd use this if we had no working data and didn't want the hassle. Paying an extra dollar for a written price at three in the morning is a reasonable trade.
The touts
Men will approach you inside the terminal offering a taxi. The opening ask for a foreigner is frequently 150,000 to 300,000 soum, which is five times the real fare, and occasionally it's quoted in dollars to make it sound modest.
This isn't dangerous and it isn't a scam in any serious sense. It's an overcharge and it's declinable. Say no, keep walking, use the app or the desk. If you do end up negotiating with a private car, agree the number out loud before the boot opens.
Public transport
Buses serve the airport and cost about 1,700 soum, payable with an ATTO card or a contactless bank card. Several routes run from the stop opposite the departures area into the city, with journey times of 40 to 70 minutes depending on route and traffic, and typical service from around 06:00 to 22:00.
A note on accuracy, because we'd rather flag this than pretend: published route numbers and fares for the airport buses disagree between sources, with figures of 1,400 and 1,700 soum both in circulation and different sites naming different routes. Treat the bus as a cheap daytime option to be confirmed at the stop, not as something to plan a tight connection around (last checked: September 2026).
There is no metro station inside the terminals. The network runs nearby and you can combine a short bus hop with the metro, but with luggage after a long flight this is a false economy. Save the metro for getting around town, which it does very well, as our metro guide sets out.
Landing at 3am
Common enough to deserve its own plan.
- Arrange the hotel transfer. At $15 to $30 it costs more than the app and it means a named person with your name on a card while you're tired and disoriented. For a first night in a new country this is money well spent.
- Get cash first. There are ATMs in the arrivals area. Take out at least 100,000 soum so you can pay a driver without a card. Details on which cards work are in our money guide.
- Tell the hotel your arrival time. Small guesthouses genuinely do lock up. A 04:00 arrival with nobody at the desk is a miserable start.
- Don't feel obliged to rush out. The terminal is fine to sit in until it gets light if your room isn't available until the afternoon anyway.
Which terminal
Tashkent's airport has separate buildings for international and domestic flights, and they are not adjacent. If you're connecting from an international arrival to a domestic flight to Urgench or Nukus, allow for a short transfer between terminals rather than assuming a walk. The terminal layout and the arrival formalities are covered in our full airport guide, which also handles visas, customs and SIM cards on arrival.
Going the other way
Leaving is easier and cheaper, because you can order a car from your hotel at a normal fare with no airport surcharge and no touts.
Allow 30 minutes for the drive in daytime traffic and be at the terminal two hours before an international departure. Security screening happens on entry to the building, so the queue can start outside the door.
Sources: the airport operator Uzbekistan Airports for terminal information, and the national tourism portal's Tashkent pages for transport context.
Featured image: Dinamik (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons.