Tashkent to Samarkand by train: times, fares and stations

Afrosiyob, Sharq, a car or a flight

Take the Afrosiyob if you can get a seat. It is about an hour faster than the Sharq, and its three morning departures that sell Samarkand seats (07:30, 07:55 and 08:30) arrive by 10:49, in time for Registan before lunch. When it is full, the Sharq and Nasaf cost a third less and had seats on 57 of the 59 dates we searched. A car or an intercity taxi suits travellers who want stops or a pickup at the door. Flights exist, but with airport time they are slower door to door.

Every train from Tashkent to Samarkand

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. Times are Tashkent time (UTC+5) and fares are per adult in som. Afrosiyob, Sharq, Nasaf and the Manguberdi leave from Tashkent Central; train 054 and the night trains that start in Tashkent leave from Tashkent South.

Five Afrosiyob trains leave Tashkent every day. A sixth, the 06:10, runs daily until 4 October and then only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until at least 22 November. Only three of the daily five sell Samarkand seats in practice: the 06:33, which runs on to Qarshi (to Shahrisabz on Sundays), had seats for Samarkand on 3 of 60 dates, and the 19:48 to Bukhara on 1. The 07:55 is the only Afrosiyob that ends in Samarkand.

The Jaloliddin Manguberdi to Khiva stops in Samarkand at 09:13 but sells only VIP seats for this stretch, at 709,000 som, and it had them on 1 of 51 dates. Fast train 054 at 16:00 is the sleeper with a daytime arrival: it reaches Samarkand at 20:14, and an open berth costs 142,980 som. The night trains that leave after 21:00 arrive between 01:09 and 05:25.

Samarkand to Tashkent, and Samarkand as a day trip

For a day trip, go out on the 07:30 or 07:55 Afrosiyob and come back on the 17:40 or 18:15. Allow 20 minutes each way between the station and the old town and 30 minutes at the station before departure, and you still have about 6½ hours in Samarkand. Book both legs together: on 27 September the Afrosiyob back to Tashkent had seats on 7 of the 32 days to 28 October, one more than the trains out.

When the Afrosiyob is full, the Sharq 709 at 19:23 and the Nasaf 715 at 20:24 bring you back to Tashkent Central at 23:06 and 23:54; Sharq and Nasaf had seats on 29 of the 32 days to 28 October. The 05:21 Afrosiyob offered seats from Samarkand on 5 of 60 dates, and the 18:49 Afrosiyob and the Manguberdi on none.

When to book: Afrosiyob sells out weeks ahead

Tickets go on sale 60 days before departure at 10:00 Tashkent time, online and at station ticket offices. For the Afrosiyob, that is the moment to buy. In our search on 27 September it had seats from Tashkent to Samarkand on only 6 of the 32 days to 28 October, most of them single seats, while 26 of the 27 dates from 29 October were still open.

The slower trains are the fallback. Sharq and Nasaf had seats on 57 of the 59 dates and train 054 on 55. If your Afrosiyob date is full, book the Sharq and keep searching: seats come back when unpaid orders expire and tickets are returned, and a refund more than 24 hours before departure costs only 15,000 som.

Tickets in five lines

• Buy on the railway’s own site, eticket.uzrailpass.uz (English, Russian and Uzbek), or at a station ticket office; search by station, Tashkent to Samarkand, not by train name.
• Sales open 60 days ahead at 10:00 Tashkent time, and the site gives you 10 minutes to enter the passenger details and pay.
• Each ticket carries its passenger’s passport details; at the station you show the e-ticket on your phone with the same passport, and printing is not required.
• 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: Tashkent Central, Tashkent South and Samarkand

Tashkent has two long-distance stations, 9.6 km apart by road, and your train decides which one you need. Afrosiyob, Sharq, Nasaf and the Manguberdi use Tashkent Central, listed in the booking search as Ташкент Центральный or Ташкент Северный (North) and on maps as Toshkent-Yo'lovchi. It stands next to Toshkent metro station on the Oʻzbekiston line, 5 km by road from Amir Temur Square. Train 054 and the night trains that start in Tashkent use Tashkent South (Janubiy) on Shota Rustaveli Street.

In Samarkand all these trains use the main station, on Abu Rayhon Beruniy Street, 5.9 km by road from Registan. On Yandex Go’s published tariff a Start car to the old town costs about 12,000–15,000 som: 4,100 som including the first kilometre and 2 minutes, then up to 1,020 som per km and 450 som per minute. If your hotel sends a driver, give it the train number and arrival time.

On Sundays the Afrosiyob to Shahrisabz calls here at 08:46 and leaves at 08:56; see Shahrisabz from Samarkand. For the next leg west, see Samarkand to Bukhara.

By road or by air

It is 322 km by road from central Tashkent to Registan, 4 h 47 min of driving without stops, so plan on 5–6 hours with a meal break and city traffic. The car is the slowest option, but it is the only one that stops where you want and picks you up at the door.

Since 6 May 2026 Yandex Go has sold intercity rides; Tashkent–Samarkand was one of the 23 routes at launch. You book the whole car or single seats, the driver sets the price, and you can book at most 2 days ahead. A private car with a driver is the other road option; the arranged options are listed below this guide.

Flights exist: on 27 September aviasales.uz listed 11 direct flights a week, with Centrum Air and Uzbekistan Airways, and the lowest one-way fare its users had found in the previous 48 hours was 198,367 som. Add the trip to Tashkent airport, check-in and the ride from Samarkand airport, and the Afrosiyob is faster door to door.

What to watch out for

• Two Tashkent stations: train 054 and the night trains leave from Tashkent South, 9.6 km from Central, where every Afrosiyob starts. Read the station on your ticket.
• Sell-outs: on 27 September the Afrosiyob had seats on 6 of the next 32 days. Book at 10:00 on the day sales open, or take the Sharq.
• Trains shown as full: the 06:33 and 19:48 Afrosiyob and the Manguberdi almost never offer seats to Samarkand, so plan around the 07:30, 07:55 and 08:30.
• Night arrivals: sleepers reach Samarkand between 01:09 and 05:25, so book the hotel from the night before.
• Flight and train on one day: the first Afrosiyob with Samarkand seats leaves at 07:30 (06:10 on Fridays to Sundays), so after a night flight sleep in Tashkent first; see arriving at Tashkent airport.

Common questions