Changing Money in Uzbekistan: Banks, Machines, Notes
Changing money in Uzbekistan in 2026: the 11,800 som dollar rate, banks vs hotel desks vs exchange machines, which notes get refused, and reconverting som.
Hand a bank teller in Tashkent two crisp $100 bills and you'll get back roughly 2,350,000 som. The Central Bank of Uzbekistan's official rate on 26 September 2026 was 11,825.40 som to the dollar, and the best bank buying rate that day was 11,800 (cbu.uz, bank rates via onmap.uz; last checked: September 2026). In 200,000-som notes that's about a dozen bills, a fold of paper that fits in a shirt pocket. Changing money in Uzbekistan used to mean the opposite: on 29 August 2017 the same $200 was worth 842,070 som at the official rate, and the biggest note in most people's wallets was 5,000 som. That's about 170 notes, hence the old photos of travellers with cash in carrier bags.
The brick of money is gone. What's left are mechanics: where to change, which notes get refused, and what to do with unspent som. For cards, ATMs and how much cash to carry day to day, our companion piece on paying by card and cash in Uzbekistan goes wider.
What happened in September 2017
For two decades the som had two prices. The official rate was held artificially strong, access to dollars at that rate was rationed, and a street rate roughly twice as generous ran openly in every bazaar. On 5 September 2017 the Central Bank let the official rate jump from 4,210.35 to 8,100 som per dollar in a single day, a move confirmed in the bank's own rate archive and reported at the time by RFE/RL.
That's the whole reason the black market disappeared. Once a bank pays the market rate, a man outside Chorsu has nothing to offer you except risk.
And the risk is real. Currency dealing outside licensed banks and exchange points is illegal and the classic street trick (a fat roll with smaller notes folded inside) still exists. On 27 September 2026 the average bank bought dollars at about 11,770 and sold at about 11,875, a spread of under 1% (onmap.uz; last checked: September 2026). There isn't room inside that gap for a black market to live.
Where to change money in Uzbekistan
Every legitimate option runs through a bank. The exchange booth in your hotel lobby is almost always a small branch of a commercial bank, and the airport counters are too.
Bank branches
The best rates and the strictest inspection. Bring your passport: exchange is a recorded transaction and the cashier will ask for it. Opening hours vary by bank; Caravanistan lists 9:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday, while other guides give Monday to Friday, so don't count on a Saturday branch in a small town (Caravanistan, updated May 2025; last checked: September 2026).
Hotel and airport desks
Convenient, sometimes open late, and usually a little worse than a city branch: not worth crossing town over on $50, worth it on $500.
Should you change money at Tashkent airport when you land? Yes, but only enough for the first day or two: a taxi, dinner, a SIM card. The arrivals counters work fine; they're just not where you want to change your whole budget. Our guide to arriving at Tashkent airport shows where the desks and ATMs sit.
Automatic exchange machines
Freestanding machines, often outside bank branches, take US dollar notes and pay out som around the clock. Several travel guides describe them as marked "AvtoVASH" and accepting $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills. Their rate is slightly below the counter rate. They're a lifesaver on a Sunday evening and reportedly less picky than a human cashier about a slightly creased note, though a torn one can still be spat back out. We couldn't confirm from an official source which machines also take euros, so assume dollars only.
Shops, guesthouses and carpet dealers
Many will take dollars, but souvenir shops typically build in around a 5% penalty against the bank rate, according to Caravanistan. Fine for one purchase, a poor way to fund a week.
Which dollar and euro notes get refused
Most exchange trouble happens here, and the rules are part official, part custom.
Officially, older US notes are fine. In December 2024, after rumours that old $100 bills had been withdrawn, the Central Bank stated that pre-2009 $100 notes remain legal tender and that banks exchange them without problems (Gazeta.uz). It even published a hotline, 71-200-00-44, for people turned away.
In practice it's messier. A January 2025 Kun.uz report found some commercial banks classing the oldest designs as "damaged" and charging a fee, with individual exchange offices refusing them outright or asking for a discount. Reports that pre-2006 notes are banned are wrong; reports that they're sometimes a hassle are right.
Our advice is simple, and we'd call it non-negotiable for a short trip: bring the current blue-stripe $100s (the 2013 design), plus some $20s and $50s, all unfolded, unmarked and untorn. A pen mark, a small tear or a bank stamp is enough for a cashier to push a note back across the counter. Euros get the same scrutiny; a dog-eared €50 from a drawer at home is the note most likely to come back to you.
Carry them flat in an envelope rather than folded in a wallet. It sounds fussy. It prevents most refusals.
Som notes and coins you'll handle
The Central Bank lists these notes as current: 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 and 200,000 som (last checked: September 2026). Two designs circulate side by side, which confuses people at first. The older series (spelt "sum", issued between 2001 and 2019) and the 2021 series (spelt "soum") both remain valid, so you may get two different-looking 5,000, 10,000 and 100,000 notes in the same handful of change. Neither is fake.
Coins exist in 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 som. The small 1990s notes (1 to 100 som) were withdrawn from 1 March 2020 and are souvenirs now, not money.
When you exchange, ask for part of it in 10,000s and 20,000s. A 200,000 note (about $17) is awkward at a bread stall or in a taxi, and small change is what gets used for toilets, photo permits and a small tip for a driver or guide.
How to change money: the counter, step by step
- Check the posted "buy" rate on the board (that's the rate at which the bank buys your dollars), not the "sell" rate.
- Hand over the passport with the notes. The cashier inspects every note, front and back, and may reject individual bills.
- Count the som before you leave the window. A mistake is far easier to settle there than back at the hotel.
- Take the receipt. It's what lets you reconvert without argument later.
Expect a few minutes at the window plus whatever queue there is, and note that some branches pause for lunch.
Changing som back before you leave
This is the part to plan, because som is close to worthless once you're out of the country. Banks will sell dollars back to you against your passport, ideally with your exchange receipt, but at their selling rate, so each round trip loses you roughly 1%. Airport desks have been known to refuse reconversion outright, and abroad almost nobody wants the currency (Caravanistan mentions the Dostyk crossing to Osh as one exception).
The easiest fix is to change small amounts often and let the last day's som run down to nothing. Spend the remainder on the hotel bill, a bag of dried apricots or a taxi, and reconvert only a sum large enough to justify a bank queue. If you're carrying a lot of foreign cash in, the rules on declaring currency at customs are worth reading first, since the declaration form is what protects you when you take unspent dollars back out.