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
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 carwith 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.