Samarkand to Bukhara by train: times, fares and stations

Afrosiyob, Sharq or the road

Take the Afrosiyob. At 1 h 37 min it is about an hour faster than the Sharq and about three hours faster than a car, and the 09:53 and 10:59 departures reach Bukhara at 11:39 and 12:36. Book it on the day sales open. If it is full, the 12:00 Sharq arrives at 14:35 and had seats on 51 of the 60 dates we searched. Go by road when the stops matter: the Rabati Malik caravanserai and the potters of Gijduvan are on the way, and a two-day route adds a night at a desert yurt camp.

Every train from Samarkand to Bukhara

The table lists every train that the railway’s booking search showed for travel dates from 27 September to 25 November 2026, in our search on 27 September. All of them stop at Buxoro-1, the Bukhara station in Kogon. Times are Tashkent time (UTC+5) and fares are per adult in som.

All four Afrosiyob trains start in Tashkent and stand in Samarkand for 10 minutes; you book only the Samarkand–Bukhara section. Three run every day. The 08:33 runs daily until 4 October, then only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The 22:23 reaches Bukhara at 00:01, so book the hotel from the night you travel.

The Jaloliddin Manguberdi to Khiva passes Samarkand at 09:23 and Bukhara at 10:54, but the search offered no seats for this section on any of its 51 running days. NU 702 runs on Tuesdays only, 13:09 → 15:17, for 209,900 som. The sleeper trains that pass in the small hours are cheap, but they leave you at Buxoro-1 between 05:12 and 08:33.

Bukhara to Samarkand

Eastbound, the 03:34 Afrosiyob had seats on 59 of the 60 dates we searched, and the Sharq at 05:21 and 16:55 on 59 of 60 too. The afternoon Afrosiyob trains at 15:09, 16:22 and 18:14 were the hard ones: they had seats on 8 of the 33 days to 29 October, then on 25 of the 26 days after.

The Manguberdi from Khiva leaves Bukhara at 10:57 and reaches Samarkand at 12:41, but it had seats for this section on 2 of its 51 running days. NU 701 runs on Mondays, 15:17 → 17:20. For the leg on to Tashkent, see Tashkent to Samarkand, which lists every train back to the capital.

Fares: business can cost less than economy

On this section the Afrosiyob costs 225,000 som in economy, against 311,000 from Tashkent to Samarkand and 509,000 from Tashkent to Bukhara in the tariff in force since 1 February 2026. Business cost 332,000 som for travel until late October. For dates from 27–30 October onwards, depending on the train, the search priced it at 195,500 som, below the economy fare, on every Afrosiyob in both directions. On those dates, pick business: same train, same journey time, lower fare.

The Sharq’s standard seat costs 169,810 som and its business seat 251,240. Sleeper trains charge 129,190 som for an open berth (platskart), 166,320 for a berth in a four-berth compartment (kupe) and 275,500 for a two-berth SV compartment.

When to book

Sales open 60 days before the train leaves its first station, at 10:00 Tashkent time. Every Afrosiyob and Sharq on this section starts in Tashkent, so the 60 days count from the Tashkent departure. For the 00:02 Sharq, which leaves Tashkent at 20:32 the evening before, sales open a day earlier than the date on your ticket.

In our search on 27 September, westbound Afrosiyob seats from Samarkand were on sale on 15 of the 33 days to 29 October, usually 1 to 4 seats, and on all 26 days from 30 October. The Sharq had seats on 59 of 60 dates, the 12:00 alone on 51. If your Afrosiyob date is full, book the 12:00 Sharq, keep searching, and cancel if a seat appears: a refund more than 24 hours before departure costs 15,000 som.

Tickets in five lines

• Buy on the railway’s own site, eticket.uzrailpass.uz, or at a station ticket office; search Samarkand to Bukhara, and the ticket covers only your section of the through train.
• Sales open 60 days ahead at 10:00 Tashkent time, counted from the train’s Tashkent departure, and the site gives you 10 minutes to enter the passenger details and pay.
• Each ticket carries its passenger’s passport details; show the e-ticket and the same passport at the station entrance at least 30 minutes before departure, and there is no need to print it.
• The site lists Visa, Mastercard, Mir, UnionPay, Google Pay and Apple Pay, but Russian-issued Visa and Mastercard do not work abroad and UZCARD suspended Mir on 23 September 2022; see the money guide.
• A refund costs 15,000 som per seat more than 24 hours before departure; within 24 hours the railway also keeps half the seat part of the fare, within 6 hours all of it. Step by step: how to buy Afrosiyob tickets.

Stations: Samarkand and Buxoro-1 in Kogon

In Samarkand all these trains use the main station, on Abu Rayhon Beruniy Street, 5.9 km by road from Registan: about 12,000–15,000 som by Yandex Go Start.

In Bukhara they stop at Buxoro-1, listed as Бухара 1 in the booking search. It is in the town of Kogon, 13.4 km by road from Lyabi-Hauz and about 20 minutes by car. On Yandex Go’s published Bukhara tariff a Start ride costs about 20,000–25,000 som: 3,700 som including the first kilometre and 3 minutes, then up to 900 som per km in town, 1,750 outside it, and 270 som per minute. Ask your hotel for the nearest point a car can reach, and send the pickup driver your train number and arrival time.

Going on to Khiva? Trains and the road are compared in Bukhara to Khiva. For the city itself, see the Bukhara guide.

By road: Rabati Malik, Gijduvan or a yurt night

By road the trip is 293 km, 4.5–5.5 hours by car along the Zeravshan valley. Two stops fit in. The Rabati Malik caravanserai goes back to the 11th century: its portal and ruins stand beside the road, with a sardoba, a domed water cistern, nearby. Gijduvan is the ceramics town before Bukhara; a workshop visit needs arranging in advance.

With a spare day, take the long road via Nurata instead: the spring and fortress at Nurata, a night in a yurt camp near Aydarkul lake with a camel ride, then the Sarmishsay rock carvings, Rabati Malik and Gijduvan on the way to Bukhara. The camps, the route and the season are in the yurt night by road.

A car also solves the midnight problem. It leaves when you want and drops you at the hotel, which matters on a date when the only train with seats is the 00:02 Sharq.

What to watch out for

• Bukhara’s station is in Kogon, 13.4 km from Lyabi-Hauz: allow 20–30 minutes and 20,000–25,000 som for the last stretch.
• Midnight trains: the 22:23 Afrosiyob arrives at 00:01 and the 00:02 Sharq at 02:27, so book the hotel from the night before and arrange the pickup ahead.
• Ticket dates: the 00:02 Sharq is sold under the next day’s date, and its sales open with the Tashkent departure the evening before.
• Afrosiyob seats: on 27 September they were on sale on 15 of the 33 days to 29 October, often only 1 to 4 seats; hold a Sharq ticket as a fallback.
• The Manguberdi to Khiva appears in the search but offered no Samarkand–Bukhara seats on any of 51 dates.

Common questions