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Travel and Tourism in Uzbekistan
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Uzbekistan.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
- Time Difference
- UTC+5 (10 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- Uzbekistani sum (UZS)
- Climate
- The area has a severe continental climate that is dry and hot in summer and cool and wet in winter. In the long summer, daytime temperatures often reach or surpass 40°C (104°F), but humidity is low. During the short winter, daytime temperatures usually stay above freezing, but can dip well below, and snow is not unusual. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons.
- Ethnic Groups
- Uzbek 80%, Russian 5.5%, Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%, Tatar 1.5%, other 2.5%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 1 September (1991)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 41 00 N, 64 00 E
- Location
- Central Asia, north of Turkmenistan, south of Kazakhstan
- Airports
- 247
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Timur: The Conqueror Who Built the Most Beautiful City in the World
Timur, known to the Western world as Tamerlane, a corruption of his Persian title Timur-i-Lang meaning Timur the Lame (he walked with a limp from a wound received in youth), was born near Samarkand in 1336 and rose from minor nobility to become the ruler of an empire stretching from Turkey to India, from Russia to the borders of China. He is one of history's most complicated and contradictory figures: a military genius of the first order who killed millions and destroyed cities with a ferocity that earned him comparisons to Genghis Khan, and simultaneously a passionate patron of the arts and architecture who turned his capital Samarkand into the most magnificent city of the medieval world.
Timur spent the first three decades of his career fighting his way to power in the fragmented Central Asian political landscape that followed the dissolution of Mongol authority. By 1370, he had consolidated control over the Chagatai Khanate and declared himself ruler of Samarkand. His military campaigns over the following three decades were almost incomprehensible in their scope and violence. He sacked Delhi in 1398, destroying the Delhi Sultanate and leaving behind a wasteland.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical care in Uzbekistan is below Western standards, with severe shortages of basic medical supplies, including disposable needles, anesthetics, and antibiotics. A large percentage of medication sold in local pharmacies is known to be counterfeit. Elderly travelers and those with pre-existing health problems may be at particular risk due to inadequate medical facilities. Most resident U.S. citizens travel to North America or Western Europe for their medical needs. The Consular Section of the U.S.