Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 10 days: Tashkent to Almaty

01

What does the 10-day route look like?

It runs one way, west to east: five nights in Uzbekistan, two on trains and two in Almaty, nine in all. You fly into Tashkent and home from Almaty. The table uses a sample week starting on Thursday 8 October 2026, and every train in it was listed in the railways’ booking searches on 24 September 2026.

Two trains set the calendar. The night train to Turkestan leaves Tashkent Central just after midnight on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The departure date on your ticket falls on day 7 of this itinerary. That means day 6 must be a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, and day 1 a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday. The Talgo from Turkestan to Almaty runs every other day; on the other days a slower train arrives in the afternoon.

02

Why this direction, and who should skip Turkestan?

Going one way means you cross the border once and avoid travelling back over the same route. Fly into Tashkent and out of Almaty with a ticket that lets you arrive in one city and depart from another; if the fares are better the other way round, the variants section below shows the reverse. Because you leave Uzbekistan only once, a single-entry Uzbek e-visa is enough for travellers who need one.

Turkestan earns its place after Samarkand. UNESCO says the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi was built on Timur’s orders between 1389 and 1405 and served as a prototype for later buildings in Samarkand; it was left unfinished when he died. The price of the detour is a fixed weekday and two nights running on trains.

Our recommendation: the direct Talgo from Tashkent to Almaty is the easier trip. It runs every day, you spend one night on board instead of two, and the route stays at ten days, with a day in Tashkent instead of Turkestan. Choose Turkestan if the mausoleum is a reason for your trip and your dates fit the night train. Khiva is left out; our 14-day Uzbekistan route includes it.

03

What can you book yourself, and what do we arrange?

Both railways offer online booking for these journeys. Three things need extra attention: Uzbek fast-train seats, which sell out weeks ahead; the 00:32 departure and its ticket date; and paying for the Kazakh trains on KTZ’s site with a card issued abroad, which we have not tested.

• Uzbek trains go on sale 60 days before departure at 10:00 Tashkent time. On 24 September 2026 the Afrosiyob seats for our sample week were already sold out (table below). Our booking guide shows how the Uzbek site works.
• KTZ tickets for the Turkestan and Almaty legs go on sale 45 days ahead at 07:00 Astana time, which is also Tashkent time. KTZ’s rules name Visa and Mastercard via Halyk Bank but do not say whether foreign cards work.
• Book in this order: the open-jaw flights, then the Uzbek trains when their 60-day window opens, then the night train to Turkestan and the train to Almaty when the 45-day window opens, then the hotels around them.

04

Days 1–6: Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand by train

Take the Afrosiyob high-speed train for all three legs, or the slower Sharq when it is full; our Afrosiyob guide explains the classes and the Samarkand–Bukhara train guide the stations.

Use the afternoon of day 2, day 3 and the morning of day 4 for Bukhara’s old town, as our Bukhara guide sets out. Day 5 is for Registan, Gur-e Amir and Shah-i-Zinda; our Samarkand guide gives a visit order.

Day 6 ends in Tashkent: an afternoon Afrosiyob arrives around 19:00–20:30 at Tashkent Central, where the Turkestan train leaves. The evening Sharq 709 arrives at 23:06, 1 h 26 min before the 00:32 departure; we would use it only if every Afrosiyob is full.

05

Night 6: how do you get from Tashkent to Turkestan?

By the direct night train. Uzbek Railways’ No. 305 to Moscow and No. 315 to Kazan leave Tashkent Central at 00:32 and reach Turkestan at 09:05, 8 h 33 min later. Both railways’ booking sites sell the Tashkent–Turkestan segment: KTZ in tenge and Uzbekistan Railways in som. For Wednesday 14 October, KTZ asked 11,925 ₸ (about $27) for an open berth and 16,914 ₸ (about $38) for a coupe berth; the Uzbek site asked 345,920 and 469,880 som.

These trains run to Russia, and their days can change with the December timetable; we checked dates up to 5 December 2026.

Other options are slower. There is no bus and no direct flight to Turkestan (Tashtrans, Yandex Schedules). The old Gisht Kuprik / Zhibek Zholy road crossing has been closed for rebuilding since 5 February 2025, and we found no report of it opening by 24 September 2026; the working crossing is Navoi–Kaplanbek, on foot. On any day you can also take the Talgo to Shymkent, sleep there and catch a morning train to Turkestan. Our Tashkent to Almaty guide describes the crossing step by step.

06

Day 7: what can you see in Turkestan in one day?

The mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and the monuments around it. It is about 7 km from the station by road (our calculation), so take a taxi. UNESCO describes a 38.7 m building under the largest dome in Central Asia.

One ticket covers the mausoleum, the Kyluet underground mosque and the old bath house: 2,000 ₸ (about $4.50) for foreign visitors and 1,500 ₸ for citizens of CIS countries, under the price list of the Äziret Sultan museum-reserve in force since 1 July 2025. The price page gives 08:00–19:00 daily and the visiting rules 09:00–18:00 (08:00–20:00 in summer), so plan your visit between 09:00 and 18:00.

Luggage is the catch, because you arrive on one night train and leave on another. The museum-reserve’s rules send bags to lockers at the entrance and keep bulky luggage away from the museum, and we found no official information on left luggage at Turkestan station. Travel with a small daypack, or book a hotel room for the day.

07

Night 7: how do you get from Turkestan to Almaty?

By overnight train to Almaty-2. Our pick is the Talgo 028 from Oral: it leaves Turkestan at 20:11 and reaches Almaty-2 at 11:09, 14 h 58 min later, with coupe berths from 15,084 ₸ (about $34) and lux from 21,445 ₸. It runs every other day: KTZ listed it on 14, 16 and 22 October but not on 17, 21 or 23 October, and on 22 October it arrives at 11:32. On days without it, train 078 leaves at 20:57 and reaches Almaty-2 at 16:02 (16:40 from 21 October), so you spend most of day 8 on the train.

Check the Almaty station before you pay. KTZ’s notice says boarding and alighting at Almaty-1 have been suspended since 15 July 2026 for rebuilding, yet on 24 September its booking search still sold tickets to Almaty-1 on trains 022, 024, 034 and 042. We follow the notice: choose Almaty-2 and take the 028, 078 or 008. For the others, ask KTZ on 1433 where the train lets passengers off.

FlyArystan flies Turkestan–Almaty in 1 h 25 min on changing days: Yandex Schedules lists 10:05 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays until 21 October, and 17:30 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 26 October. Confirm on flyarystan.com; a morning flight means a hotel night in Turkestan.

08

Days 8–10: what do you do with two days in Almaty?

The Talgo reaches Almaty-2 before noon on day 8, leaving the afternoon for the city; our Almaty guide covers the sights, the metro and the airport. Almaty keeps Tashkent time.

On day 9, drive to Charyn Canyon (our Charyn, Kolsai and Kaindy guide has the plan and park fees) or go up into the mountains, as in Almaty in 3 days. Shymbulak’s main lifts close for maintenance from 19 October to 1 November 2026, and its road stays closed to private cars until 30 November.

Day 10 is the flight home. With two more days, add the Kolsai lakes, or continue to Kyrgyzstan as in Central Asia in 3 weeks.

09

What if you skip Turkestan, or change the route?

Skipping Turkestan is the simpler trip. Kazakhstan Railways’ Talgo No. 1 leaves Tashkent Central every day at 14:41 and reaches Almaty-2 at 08:51 the next morning, 18 h 10 min later. For 14 October, KTZ sold seats from 10,225 ₸ (about $23) and coupe berths from 21,247 ₸ (about $48). The trip stays at ten days: come back from Samarkand on day 6, spend day 7 in Tashkent, take the Talgo that afternoon and wake up in Almaty on day 8. You sleep one night on a train instead of two, any day of the week works, and you arrive in time for breakfast.

Flying is faster still, about 1 h 30 min on four airlines; our Tashkent to Almaty guide compares the options; other rail links: Central Asia by train.

10

Which visas do you need, and what about QazETA?

Most Western passports need no visa for either country; the table shows the exceptions. Full rules: our Uzbek visa and registration guide and Kazakhstan entry guide.

QazETA, Kazakhstan’s electronic travel authorisation, was still a free, voluntary pilot on 24 September 2026: on 7 September the Interior Ministry was reported as saying that not having one is no reason to refuse entry. The entry guide tracks the rollout.

Hotels register you in both countries within three working days (Uzbek Law O‘RQ-1074; UK Foreign Office for Kazakhstan).

11

When should you go to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan?

The second half of September, or May. Uzhydromet, Uzbekistan’s weather service, gives mean daytime temperatures of 26–29 °C for the second half of September, and Kazhydromet’s 1991–2020 norms make September Almaty’s driest month, with 28 mm of rain and a mean of 17.3 °C.

Avoid July and August: Uzhydromet recorded 46.9 °C at Bukhara and 43.6 °C at Samarkand in July 2026, and model averages put Turkestan’s July highs at about 35 °C (we found no official climate page for the town).

12

What can go wrong on this route?

Most problems come from the timetables, not the places. Check these before you book.

• Boarding on the wrong night. The Turkestan ticket is dated the day after you board: a Wednesday ticket means Tuesday night at Tashkent Central.
• A fixed weekday. The night train runs on three nights a week, and the Talgo from Turkestan every other day. If they do not line up with your flights, skip Turkestan or add a night there.
• Two nights running on trains, with a 00:32 departure and your luggage with you all day in Turkestan.
• Sold-out Uzbek trains. The Afrosiyob seats for our sample week were gone three weeks ahead. Buy when sales open.
• Tickets to a closed station. KTZ still sells trains to Almaty-1, where it has suspended boarding and alighting. Book to Almaty-2.
• The road border. Gisht Kuprik’s reopening has been announced for several dates and had not happened by 24 September 2026.
• What we could not verify: payment with a foreign card on either railway site; whether the Tashkent Central ticket office sells the Turkestan segment to foreign passport holders (the Uzbek Railways line 1005 can answer); left luggage at Turkestan station; where trains sold to Almaty-1 let passengers off; FlyArystan’s days on its own site.

Common questions