Money in Uzbekistan: ATMs, Cards and Cash
How payment actually works in Uzbekistan: where cards are accepted, which ATMs take foreign cards, how much cash to carry and why the local Humo and Uzcard system matters.
Uzbekistan's money situation has changed enormously in a decade. The black market that used to double your money is gone, the currency floats, ATMs exist, and card terminals are in every supermarket.
It has not become a cashless country, though, and travellers who arrive expecting to tap a phone for everything have a difficult first day. Here is how it actually works.
The currency
The unit is the som, written UZS or so'm. The rate against the dollar and the euro floats and drifts through the year, so check a converter on the day rather than trusting a figure in an old guidebook.
Notes in circulation run from small denominations up to 200,000 som. The large notes are convenient for carrying and a nuisance for spending: a taxi driver or a bazaar seller at nine in the morning may genuinely not be able to break one. Ask for a mix when you withdraw and keep the small notes for daily use.
Coins exist and are barely used. Prices are usually rounded.
Cards: what works where
This is the part that confuses people. Uzbekistan runs two domestic card systems, Uzcard and Humo, which is what almost every local carries. Visa and Mastercard exist alongside them but are not the default, and acceptance is narrower than you are used to.
| Where | Foreign Visa/Mastercard |
|---|---|
| Mid-range and upper hotels | Usually accepted |
| Supermarkets and malls | Usually accepted |
| Tourist restaurants in big cities | Often accepted |
| Museums and monument tickets | Sometimes; carry cash |
| Guesthouses and small hotels | Often cash only |
| Bazaars, stalls, chaikhanas | Cash only |
| Street taxis and shared taxis | Cash only |
| Small towns generally | Cash only |
Visa tends to be accepted slightly more widely than Mastercard. American Express is close to useless. Contactless works where terminals are new, which mostly means Tashkent.
Ask before you order or check in, rather than after. "Karta bilan to'lasam bo'ladimi?" in Uzbek, or simply holding up a card, gets a clear answer.
ATMs
Cash machines that take foreign cards are common in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, and thin on the ground elsewhere. Practical rules:
- Look for bank branches rather than standalone machines, and for the Visa or Mastercard logos on the machine itself. Many ATMs are Uzcard or Humo only and will simply reject your card.
- Withdrawals are in som. Some machines in Tashkent dispense dollars; most do not.
- Take out larger amounts less often. Both your bank and the local one charge per withdrawal, and per-transaction limits are modest.
- Decline the conversion. If the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, say no and let your own bank convert. Dynamic currency conversion is always a worse rate.
- Draw cash in the cities before heading out. Nukus, Termez and the Fergana towns have machines; villages, desert routes and yurt camps do not.
- Carry a backup card from a different network, kept separately.
Why two domestic card systems exist
It is worth understanding the local set-up, because it explains most of the friction a visitor meets.
Uzcard, launched in the 2000s, and Humo, added later, are national payment networks. Salaries, pensions and benefits are paid onto them, and for most of the population a bank card means one of these rather than a Visa. Merchants therefore buy terminals that serve those networks, because that is where their customers are, and a terminal that also accepts foreign cards is an additional cost and an additional contract.
The two systems increasingly interoperate with each other, and co-badged cards that pair a local network with Visa or Mastercard have appeared, which is why a shop that turned your card down two years ago may take it now. The direction of travel is clearly towards wider acceptance.
For a visitor, the consequence is simple: when a card is refused, it is usually not about your bank or your balance. It is that the terminal in front of you only speaks to the domestic network.
Cash, exchange and dollars
Bring some US dollars or euros as a reserve. They are easy to exchange at banks and licensed exchange desks, which are everywhere in the cities and give the official rate.
Two conditions on the notes: they must be clean, unmarked and untorn, and newer series are preferred. A creased, written-on or pre-2013 dollar bill may be refused or discounted, which strikes visitors as absurd and is nonetheless the rule.
Do not change money on the street. The unofficial market that made this worthwhile ended when the currency was liberalised in 2017, and what is left is a scam risk with no upside.
Keep your exchange receipts. They are rarely asked for on departure now, but they cost nothing to keep.
How much cash to carry
A workable system: hold enough som for two days of ordinary spending, use the card for hotels, supermarkets and big tickets, and top up at a city ATM before any trip into the countryside.
Two days of ordinary spending for most travellers means meals, taxis, entry tickets and a bazaar purchase or two. Our budget guide gives current price levels for each of those.
Before a desert or mountain trip, an Aral expedition or a stay in a yurt camp, carry the whole cost in cash. Those operators do not have terminals and will expect payment in som or dollars.
Paying for transport and tickets
A few specific cases are worth spelling out, because they account for most of a traveller's spending.
Trains. Tickets for the Afrosiyob and other services can be bought online with a foreign card through the railway's own channels, which is the easiest route, or at station ticket offices, where cash is simplest. Book the fast trains well ahead; they sell out.
Taxis. Yandex Go works in the main cities and can be set to cash, which is what most drivers prefer. Street taxis, the ordinary cars you flag down, are cash only and the fare is agreed before you get in.
Shared taxis between cities. Cash, per seat, paid at the end. Have the right notes; drivers rarely have change for a 200,000.
Monuments. Larger sites increasingly take cards, but combined tickets, photo permits and minaret climbs are often cash. Carry 200,000 to 300,000 som on a sightseeing day and you will not have to think about it.
Domestic flights. Bookable online with a foreign card. Our Tashkent airport guide covers the arrival side, including where the working ATMs are.
Tipping and small payments
Tipping is not deeply established. Restaurants sometimes add a service charge; where they do not, rounding up or ten percent for good service is appreciated and not expected. Guides and drivers on multi-day trips are usually tipped.
Public toilets, luggage storage, photo permits inside museums and the small extras at monuments all want cash in small notes. This is the single most common reason travellers get stuck: it is not the big payments that catch you out, it is the 5,000 som ones.
A short history of the som
The currency situation travellers read about in older accounts was genuinely strange, and knowing why makes the present arrangement easier to appreciate.
The som replaced the rouble in the mid-1990s. For two decades afterwards the government held the official exchange rate artificially high while the real market rate was far lower, which produced a large black market: visitors changed money with men in bazaars, at roughly double the bank rate, and carried the proceeds in plastic bags because the largest note was worth about a dollar.
In September 2017 the new government floated the currency. The official rate moved sharply to meet the market, the black market lost its purpose almost overnight, larger denominations were issued, and banks began operating normally for foreigners. Card terminals and ATMs followed.
That is why advice about Uzbek money goes stale so quickly. Anything written before 2017 describes a different country, and even accounts from two or three years ago understate how much can now be paid by card in Tashkent.
One practical legacy survives from that period: the habit of quoting prices in dollars. Hotels, tour operators, drivers and carpet sellers often think in dollars and convert to som at the day's rate, which is worth knowing when a quote seems to change between two conversations. Ask which currency a price is fixed in, and if it is dollars, ask what rate they are using.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use my Visa card in Uzbekistan?
In hotels, supermarkets, malls and many city restaurants, yes. At bazaars, small guesthouses, taxis, monuments and anywhere outside the main cities, expect cash only. Treat the card as a way of getting money and paying big bills, not as your daily method.
Should I bring US dollars?
Bring some as a backup, in clean, undamaged, recent notes. They are easy to exchange at banks and official desks. You do not need to bring your whole trip's budget in cash; ATMs in the main cities are reliable.
Is there a black market for currency?
Not meaningfully, since the 2017 liberalisation. Official and unofficial rates are now close, so street exchange offers no advantage and carries real risk. Use a bank or a licensed exchange desk.
Can I get a local SIM and pay for things by phone?
Local payment apps are built around Uzcard and Humo accounts, which need local documentation, so they are not practical for a short visit. A local SIM for data is easy and worth getting; our visa and arrival guide covers registration and paperwork.
What if my card is refused everywhere?
Check that your bank has not blocked the transaction, which is common on a first use in Central Asia, then try a different bank's ATM rather than the same machine. Carry a second card on another network, and keep enough dollars to cover a few days as insurance.
Featured image: Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons.