JUNE 2025

We mainly visited Uzbekistan for the old Silk Road cities, so Tasjkent wasn’t really on our radar. As trains leave Tasjkent only a few times a day, we ended up having to spend two days/two nights in Tasjkent. Tasjkent is the capital city of Uzbekistan and is well developed, so we decided to make the most of it and schedule in some kid friendly activities. These few days in Tasjkent turned out to be the perfect addition to our Uzbekistan trip, as it had a completely different feel compared to Bukhara and Samarkand. In this blogpost I will give you my recommendations to have the perfect time in Tasjkent with kids.

Where we stayed

We booked a three person room in Qo’noq railway hotel, it is a small hotel which is located directly at the station. The location was very convenient for taking a trip to different cities in Uzbekistan. There is a metro at the railway station as well, which connects the hotel to the different sights in the city. We also used Yandex taxi app to get around, which works well and is affordable. The hotel has a small breakfast buffet, which offers a great choice of sweet and savory dishes. They even accommodated an early breakfast for us, when we had to be at the airport early in the morning. Staff spoke English well and I would recommend to stay here!

Things to do in Tasjkent with kids

Metro rides & stations

Tasjkent features an extensive underground, the stations are decorated in Sovjet style, with lots of detailed tiling and chandeliers. Until 2018 it was not allowed to take pictures in the metro, as it also serves as a nuclear shelter. The metro is very cheap and it is fun to take a ride for adults as well as kids! We deliberately got out of the metro a few times, just to see the metro stations. One of our favorite ones was Kosmonavtlar.

Sovjet architecture

If you are into architecture, there is a lot to see in Tasjkent! One of the most famous Sovjet buildings is hotel Uzbekistan. We stopped at the hotel to admire the architecture and have some cakes in the restaurant.

Tasjkent zoo

On google maps we found a dinosaurs park, but we did not notice that it was located inside Tasjkent zoo. So we accidentally ended up in Tasjkent zoo and ended up loving this activity. It is located quite far out of the city, but it is easy to get to with Yandex. The entrance fee to the zoo is only about 5 euros and the zoo is huge and features lots of (exotic) animals. There are lots of trees in the park, so perfect to find some shade on a hot day. During the weekend lots of local families visit the zoo and we loved being able to join in on the fun and experience a piece of Uzbek culture. In the zoo there are lots of other activities and attractions you can do, for which you do have to pay a fee. Hugo loved the dinosaurs train and museum, as well as the little cars that he could drive around the park. If you want to go to the zoo it is important to prepare your kid and for example give them a budget. The amount of activities can be quite overwhelming and it can get really expensive if your kid wants to do all.

Magic City

Magic City is Tasjkent’s Europe inspired theme park. There even is a Disneyland like castle with a fountain show. Entrance to Magic City is free, but this means you have to pay for each activity you want to do. The park is decorated very nicely and kitsch, we loved the Euro references, so it is fun to walk around even if you don’t do activities. We decided to visit the Aquarium, which was on the expensive side with about 8 euro per ticket. It was a lovely, little aquarium! Hugo also went on a slide, which was great fun. There is lots of things to do in Magic City, there even is a beach. Next to Magic City is the National Park (Milly Bog), which was great for wandering around, lots of flowers and trees! We visited the pizzeria and the western style pizza was very good. You can check the official opening hours and fountain show hours here.

Chorsu Bazaar

I didn’t know if this would be a kid friendly activity, but Hugo ended up loving a visit to Chorsu Bazaar. The building is UFO like, very special and the interior is extremely chaotic. We mainly walked around buying different sorts of nuts and fruits. The Uzbek love children and they were very kind to us.