Tashkent Metro Guide: The Underground Art Palaces
Ride Central Asia’s first metro past chandelier halls and cosmonaut mosaics. Fares, best stations, a self-guided route and tips (checked September 2026).
The Tashkent Metro opened in November 1977, and its stations were decorated like reception halls: marble, glass chandeliers, ceramic mosaics of cotton flowers and Soviet cosmonauts, with no two stations alike. For decades you weren’t allowed to photograph any of it, because the metro doubled as a civil-defence shelter. That ban is gone, and today a single flat fare buys you a self-guided tour of the best of them. Here’s how to see it properly.
Why the metro is a sightseeing attraction
The Tashkent Metro opened in 1977, making it the first metro in Central Asia and, for a long time, the only one. Like the famous stations of Moscow and Kyiv, it was built to double as public transport in peacetime and a civil-defence shelter in an emergency. That second role is exactly why photography was banned for 41 years: the stations were officially strategic infrastructure. In 2018 the government finally lifted the restriction, as RFE/RL reported at the time, and the vaults that Uzbeks had ridden through unremarked for a generation suddenly turned up in National Geographic and The Guardian.
What makes the stations special is the deliberate collision of two visual languages. Soviet-era themes of space travel, industry and labour sit alongside the domes, arabesques and cobalt-and-emerald tilework of Uzbek craft tradition. No two stations look alike, and unlike a museum, the whole thing costs the same flat fare as a city bus and runs from about 05:00 to midnight. If you’re already working through our Tashkent travel guide, treat the metro as an attraction in its own right rather than just the way you get between the others.
The most beautiful stations
There are about three dozen stations on the three underground lines (around 50 on the whole network once you count the elevated Circle line), and most repay a look. If your time is limited, these five are the ones we’d build a route around.
Kosmonavtlar (Cosmonauts)
The showpiece. Opened in 1984 in honour of Soviet spaceflight, Kosmonavtlar is styled as a journey through the cosmos: a deep-blue colonnade studded with glass “stars” that evoke the Milky Way, lined with ceramic medallion portraits of space figures. You’ll spot Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova alongside the medieval Uzbek astronomer Ulugh Beg and, with a wink, Icarus. It’s the single most photographed station on the network, and rightly so. Since July 2026 it has also been part of UNESCO's Tashkent modernist architecture World Heritage listing.
Alisher Navoi
Named for the 15th-century poet regarded as the father of Uzbek literature, this station feels like stepping inside a mosque. A run of ribbed turquoise domes lines the platform ceiling, and the corridors and staircases carry tilework illustrating scenes from Navoi’s poems. It’s the most overtly “Uzbek” of the major stations and the easiest to photograph well because the domes frame the shot for you.
Mustaqillik Maydoni (Independence Square)
One of the very first stations, opened in November 1977, and finished in Uzbek marble. The columned hall, glass chandeliers and coffered ceiling give it the air of a ballroom rather than a train platform. It sits directly beneath Independence Square, so it’s a natural start or finish for a walking day in the centre.
Pakhtakor (Cotton Picker)
Pakhtakor means “cotton picker,” and the walls celebrate the crop that dominated Uzbekistan’s Soviet economy. Green and blue mosaics of flowering cotton plants run the length of the platform in a bright, folk-art style that is completely different in mood from the solemn marble halls nearby. It’s also a key interchange: a passage links it to Alisher Navoi on the blue Oʻzbekiston line, which makes it easy to fold into any route.
Bodomzor
The modern outlier. Opened in 2001 on the newer Yunusobod line, Bodomzor swaps chandeliers for clean geometric ceiling patterns and sculptural lighting, giving it an almost science-fiction feel. It’s four stops north of the Ming Oʻrik interchange and worth the ride to see how the metro’s design language evolved after independence, and it pairs well with the nearby TV tower and the white marble Minor Mosque.
How to ride the Tashkent Metro
The system is simple once you know the basics. There are four lines: the red Chilonzor line (the original, 1977), the blue Oʻzbekiston line (1984), the green Yunusobod line (2001), and the newer elevated Circle line (2020) that rings the outer districts above ground. Signs are in Uzbek Latin script, often with Cyrillic, and increasingly with English. Trains are frequent, and stations are clean, staffed and safe.
Fares are flat: you pay once to enter and can travel as far as you like and change lines as many times as you need on a single journey. The old brass tokens were retired back in 2020. Today you either tap a reusable card or a contactless bank card, or buy a single-use paper QR ticket for cash. The cash fare is deliberately priced higher to push people onto cards. From 1 October 2026 the card or app fare rises from 1,700 to 2,500 soʻm, a second ride within the hour costs 1,500, and cash stays at 3,000, as reported by Gazeta.uz (last checked: September 2026).
| Payment method | Fare per journey | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ATTO card (tap) | 2,500 soʻm | Card costs 20,000 soʻm at metro ticket offices; also works on city buses; 1,500 for a second ride within the hour |
| Contactless bank card / phone | 2,500 soʻm | Visa, Mastercard, Uzcard, Humo tap straight on the turnstile |
| Cash (paper QR ticket) | 3,000 soʻm | Single use; bought at the station kiosk |
If you only need a ride or two, just tap your own contactless bank card on the turnstile and you pay the cheaper electronic fare automatically; the metro operator lists Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay alongside the local Uzcard and Humo. Trains run roughly 05:00 to midnight on the three underground lines, with the Circle line finishing a little earlier.
The ATTO card: buying, topping up, and the cash fallback
For a stay of more than a day or two, or if your foreign card is refused at the turnstile, an ATTO card is the tidy answer. ATTO is the city’s automated fare system, and the same card works on the metro and on Tashkent’s city buses.
- Where to buy it. At metro ticket offices, at offices of Toshshahartransxizmat (the city bus company) and at UzPost post offices. The standard card costs 20,000 soʻm at a metro ticket office; Kun.uz reported in February 2026 that post offices sell it for 16,000. That price is for the card itself and doesn’t include any travel.
- How to top it up. With cash or a bank card at metro ticket offices, info kiosks and post offices, or through the ATTO app and Uzbek payment apps such as Payme, Click, Upay and Apelsin. If you don’t have an Uzbek payment app, the ticket window is the simple option. When you top up over the counter, ATTO advises checking that the last four digits on the receipt match the number on your card.
- Keep a minimum balance. ATTO says the card needs at least the price of one trip on it to work, which is 2,500 soʻm in Tashkent, whatever plan you hold. A card showing “blocked” at the validator usually just needs a top-up.
- Reading the turnstile. Green check: paid. Red cross: payment failed. Yellow: less than six minutes have passed since the card was last charged, which usually means you tapped twice.
- Day passes. Read the plan codes carefully. On ATTO’s Tashkent fare table the cheapest one-day plan, 11,500 soʻm, is bus only; the plan that also covers the metro costs 13,500 soʻm, and Gazeta.uz lists it as seven trips within 24 hours. With the reduced second ride within the hour, a pay-as-you-go card is usually cheaper on a sightseeing day, so only buy a plan if you are riding a lot.
The cash fallback is the single-use paper QR ticket, 3,000 soʻm, sold at station ticket windows; the metro operator also lists one-time QR codes from Alif ATMs. Keep a few small notes for it: a reader that is down, or a foreign card that won’t tap, is the usual reason you will need it. ATTO also lists Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and about a dozen other cities where its cards are accepted on buses, although fares differ there (last checked: October 2026).
A self-guided station-hopping route
You can see the highlights in about 60 to 90 minutes for the price of a single fare, because you never leave the paid area. The trick is to ride to a station, step off, admire it, photograph it, then re-board the next train without exiting through the turnstiles. Here is a route that strings the best five together with minimal backtracking:
- Start at Mustaqillik Maydoni on the red Chilonzor line, under Independence Square.
- Ride one stop to Pakhtakor, also on the red line, for the cotton mosaics.
- Take the interchange passage from Pakhtakor to Alisher Navoi on the blue Oʻzbekiston line for the turquoise domes.
- Ride two stops on the blue line (via Oʻzbekiston station) to Kosmonavtlar, the cosmic showpiece.
- Go one more stop to Oybek, change to Ming Oʻrik on the green Yunusobod line, and ride four stops north to Bodomzor for the modern finale. Surface there for the TV tower and Minor Mosque.
If you would rather not track line changes yourself, download an offline metro map before you go, and remember that every interchange is signed in the station. The same card-and-app habits carry over to intercity travel, and our notes on trains, shared taxis and domestic flights between cities pick up where the metro leaves off.
Tips for visiting the metro
- Go off-peak. Mid-morning or early afternoon on a weekday gives you emptier platforms and cleaner photos. Rush hours (roughly 08:00–09:30 and 17:30–19:00) are busy.
- Photography is fine, tripods aren’t. Handheld shots are welcome since the 2018 ban was lifted, but a tripod still officially needs a permit. Be discreet and let commuters pass.
- Carry a little cash as backup. Contactless usually works, but a few small soʻm notes cover a paper ticket if a reader is down.
- You can hop stations on one fare. As long as you stay inside the turnstiles you pay once, so there’s no reason to rush any single station.
- Bring a light layer. Deep platforms stay cool even in Tashkent’s fierce summer, a welcome break from the heat above ground.
- Budget almost nothing. At around 21 US cents a ride by card, the metro is the cheapest sightseeing in the city; the daily budgets in our Uzbekistan travel costs breakdown show how little it adds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it really allowed to take photos in the Tashkent Metro now?
Yes. The decades-long ban was lifted in 2018, and handheld photography is now permitted throughout the system. The only real restriction is tripods, which still officially require a permit. Use common sense, keep out of commuters’ way, and you’ll have no trouble (last checked: July 2026).
How much does a metro ride cost?
It’s a flat fare regardless of distance. From 1 October 2026 it’s 2,500 soʻm if you tap an ATTO card, the app or a contactless bank card (1,700 before that), or 3,000 soʻm for a single-use paper ticket bought with cash. That’s around 21 to 25 US cents per journey, and you can change lines freely on a single entry.
Do I need to buy a special card as a tourist?
Not necessarily. If you have a contactless Visa or Mastercard you can simply tap it on the turnstile and pay the lower electronic fare. If you’re staying several days or plan to use city buses too, a reusable ATTO card is convenient and works across both networks.
Is the metro safe and easy to navigate?
Yes on both counts. Stations are staffed, clean and secure, trains are frequent, and signage increasingly appears in English alongside Uzbek. An offline metro map on your phone makes interchanges effortless. If something gets left on a train, our guide to recovering lost property covers where to ask.
The bottom line
Few cities let you tour a working art collection for the price of a bus fare. The Tashkent Metro does, and now that the cameras are allowed out, there’s no reason to treat it as mere transport. Set aside an hour, tap in, and ride through the underground palaces before joining the rest of the best things to do in Uzbekistan above ground.