Uzbekistan Travel Overview

Uzbekistan Travel Overview

At a glance

Capital: Tashkent (See more on ITYPEMBA.COM)

Official language: Uzbek

Currency: So’m

Continent: South Asia

Vacation in Uzbekistan

Gold, silk, fascinating buildings and cosmopolitan people await travelers in Uzbekistan.

According to Countryaah, the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: Oʻzbekiston Respublikasi) is a landlocked country in Central Asia. The country borders with Kazakhstan to the west and north, Kyrgyzstan to the east, Tajikistan and Afghanistan to the southeast, and Turkmenistan to the south. Uzbekistan is also a neighbor of the Aral Sea.

Soft tourism and a golden smile

The former Soviet republic is located on the legendary Silk Road. Fantastic sacred buildings and friendly people with truly golden smiles await travelers. Soft tourism is very important. The golden smile comes from the mouth cavities of Uzbeks of all ages, some of which are completely decorated with gold teeth.

Art metropolis Smarkand

The ancient world metropolis on the Silk Road awaits amazed visitors with neat houses on wide boulevards. The heart of the “glamorous face of the earth” is the Registran square. the Islamic building has shiny green domes, blue mosaic walls, magnificent minarets and madrasas (Islamic universities). Registan is now a World Heritage Site. In Registan women burned their veils as early as 1915. Today there are probably more veiled women in Berlin or Vienna than in all of Uzbekistan.

Samarkand was founded around 750 BC, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Samarkand was founded by Alexander the Great in 329 BC. Conquered BC and destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220. The city is home to some of the greatest examples of Islamic architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If there is enough time, one should visit the Bibi Khanum Mosque, Ulugbek Madrasa, Sher-Dor-Madrasa, Tilya-Kori-Madrasa, the Gur-Emir-Mausoleum, the Shahi-Sinda-Ensemble, Khodja-Doniyor-Mausoleum, visit the Ulugbeks Observatory sam memorial and the Hodja-Abdu-Darun-Mausoleum.

Around Samarkand, as in the rest of the country, there is an interesting mix of Russian prefabricated buildings and western-style shopping streets.

Travel tips

The oasis city of Bukhara, a festival metropolis for musicals and folklore, is recommended. Exhausting but interesting: ride through the Kizilkum desert to Khiva including a steppe picnic.

Best travel time

The temperature is most pleasant in spring with 20 to 25 ° C and green vegetation. Uzbek summers are very hot and dry. The thermometer then climbs up to 45 ° C. In autumn the “brown desert” is even more brown than in the rest of the year.

Travel info

A pot of tea costs around 2,200 So’m, which is about one euro. Euros and US dollars are popular currencies in Uzbek markets. No vaccinations are required. Carpets, silk clothing, handicrafts, spices and chewing tobacco are suitable as travel souvenirs.

Culinary

The national dish, plov, is made from mutton, potatoes and vegetables. The tourist version, for which mutton is replaced by beef, is ubiquitous. Otherwise the Uzbek cuisine is not a highlight. When it comes to drinks, stick to beer and vodka rather than wine.

Important facts

Capital: Tashkent

Official language: Uzbek

Currency

Currency (sub-unit)

So’m (100 Tiyin)

ISO 4217 code

UZS / 860

Geography

Continent: Asia

Region: south

Geo coordinates: N 41 ° 22 ’39 ” E 64 ° 35′ 6.9″

Highest mountain: Adelunga Toghi (4,301 m)

Total area: 447,400 km²

Mainland: 425,400 km²

National border: 6,221 km

Politics

Dependency: Soviet Union until 1991

UN member since: 1992

Other political affiliation: CIS

Economy

Uzbekistan GDP - gross domestic product

Export goods: Light industry, machines

BSP: $ 16,226,800,000

GDP: $ 15.963 billion

GDP purchasing power parity: $ 51.17 billion

Economic growth: 6.8%

Inflation rate: 8.3%

Unemployment: 0.9%

State budget revenue: $ 3236,000,000

State budget expenditure: $ 3322000000

National debt: 32.7%

Export: $ 5,870,000,000

Import: $ 4,650,000,000

Foreign debt: $ 5,872,000,000

Gold and currency reserves: $ 3,379,000,000

Electricity consumption: 55,300 million KWh

Gas reserves: 1,875,000 million m³

Gas production: 53,000 million m³

Gas consumption: 52,010 million m³

Oil reserves: 600 million m³

Oil production: 178,000 million m³

Oil consumption: 124,000 million m³

Cultivation area: 11.18%

Bovine: 5,724,000 pieces

Sheep: 8,320,000 pieces

Demographic data

Residents: 27,307,200

Residents in cities: 9,594,000

Average age: 22.7 years

0-14 years: 32.9%

15-64 years: 62.3%

> 65 years: 4.8%

Population growth: 1.7%

Birth rate: 26.36 / 1,000 residents

Death rate: 7.84 / 1,000 residents

Migration: -1.5 / 1,000 residents

Ratio men / women: 0.98

Fertility: 2.91 children / woman

Infant mortality: 69.99 ‰

Life expectancy men: 61.19 years

Life expectancy women: 68.14 years

Country codes

ISO 3166 Alpha 2: UZ

ISO 3166 Alpha 3: UZB

ISO 3166 numeric: 860

Top Level Domain: uz

IOC country code: UZB

UN / LOCODE: UZ

Source: Abbreviationfinder

Communication

Telephone connections: 1,870,000

Cell Phones: 746,000

Radios: 13,300,000

TV: 7,660,000

Computer: 940,000

Internet users: 1,360,000

Transportation

Railway lines: 3,950 km

Paved roads: 75,248 km

Cars: 936,000

Pipelines: 10.051

Health

Number of doctors: 78.090

Daily food intake: 2,420 kcal / resident

HIV- infected people: 11,800

Education

Illiteracy: 1 %

History

Foundation: 1991

Last sovereign since: 1991

Religion

Main religious group: Muslims

Crime

Prison inmates: 50,100

Military

Armed forces (troop strength): 51,000

Main battle tank: 330

Warplanes: 70

Helicopter: 180

GETTING THERE

Arriving by plane

Uzbekistan’s national airline Uzbekistan Airways (HY) (Internet: www.uzairways.com) operates direct flight services from Frankfurt / M, among others. to Tashkent. There are currently no direct flights from Austria and Switzerland.

Lufthansa (LH) flies direct from Munich to Tashkent three times a week.

Tashkent is also served by Turkish Airlines (TK) via Istanbul.

Flight times

Frankfurt – Tashkent: 6 hours 30 minutes; Moscow – Tashkent: 3 hours 30 minutes

Arrival by car

Connecting roads to all neighboring countries. The border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan is only open to citizens of these two countries. In the border area with Kyrgyzstan there are sometimes violent clashes, so special caution is required there. Traveling with your own car is not recommended.

Bus:
Bus connections to all neighboring countries; however, the border crossing to Tajikistan is often closed. Long-distance buses in Tashkent leave from the bus station near the hippodrome (Tashkent Avtovokschal), not from the Samarkand bus station. Bus tickets must also be paid for by foreigners in hard currency.

Rental car
with chauffeur can be rented for longer journeys. Payment is usually made in US dollars. Car rental companies are usually located at train and long-distance bus stations.

Arriving by train

The Trans-Caspian Railway crosses Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and connects Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea to Tashkent via Ashchabad-Bukhara-Samarkand.

Tashkent is an important hub in Central Asian rail traffic. Connections in all directions: west to Ashkhabad (Turkmenistan), south to Samarkand and on to Dushanbe (Tajikistan), east to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) and north to Moscow (Russian Federation). The drive from Moscow to Tashkent takes two and a half days.

Another line leads to the Fergana Basin in the east of the country and on to Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

You can drive to China via Almaty, and a connection to Iran is planned to connect the country to the Middle East.

Foreigners must pay for all tickets in foreign currency (US dollars are especially welcome), but the prices are low compared to Western Europe.