The Palaces Beneath Tashkent: A Metro Hidden for Forty-One Years

You go down the escalator expecting a subway. What you walk into is a ballroom. Chandeliers hang in rows down a marble hall. The columns are carved. There is not an advertisement in sight, no busker, no litter — just polished stone, warm light, and a train arriving somewhere in the dark. And until eight years ago, taking a photograph of it could get you stopped by a policeman.

Most visitors to Uzbekistan land in Tashkent, sleep one night, and hurry on to Samarkand. They are walking straight over one of the most extraordinary interiors in Central Asia without ever going down the stairs.

Why the Tashkent metro was a secret for 41 years

The Tashkent metro opened on 6 November 1977, the first underground railway in Central Asia — and it was built to do two jobs. The first was to move a city that had been flattened by an earthquake in 1966 and rebuilt from nothing. The second was never advertised: the stations were engineered deep, with blast doors, to serve as civil-defence shelters. That made the whole system a military object, and photography inside it was forbidden.

The ban held for forty-one years. It was lifted at the end of May 2018, and within weeks photographers were posting images that startled people who thought they knew what Soviet-era transit looked like. National Geographic ran them. So did half the design press. The strange result is that one of the world's great underground spaces has only been visible to the outside world for eight years.

The stations worth getting off at

Ride four lines and roughly fifty stations and you are moving through a museum with a timetable. Kosmonavtlar — Cosmonauts — opened in 1984 and is the one people photograph most: walls that shade from daylight blue to the black of space, glass discs like stars in the ceiling, and green ceramic medallions of the men and women who flew, Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova among them. It feels less like a platform than like standing inside a very confident dream about the future.

Alisher Navoi goes the other direction entirely: a row of blue-domed vaults that quote the ceilings of Samarkand's madrasahs, decorated with scenes from the poet's epics. Pakhtakor is a hymn to cotton in mosaic. Mustaqillik Maydoni glitters with chandeliers. None of it costs anything extra — the metro runs on a single flat fare that takes you the whole length of the line, and a plastic token or tap card is all you need.

Tashkent is worth more than one night

The metro is the argument for staying. Above ground, Tashkent has been quietly turning into the most surprising capital on the Silk Road: Chorsu Bazaar under its enormous blue dome, where the bread stalls start at dawn; the Khast Imam complex, which holds one of the oldest Qur'an manuscripts in the world; a Soviet-modernist skyline of concrete sun-screens and mosaic panels that architecture travellers now fly in specifically to see; and a restaurant scene that has gone from plov-and-nothing-else to genuinely good in about five years.

Then the country opens up. Afrosiyob high-speed trains put Samarkand roughly two hours away and Bukhara around four, with a new high-speed link reaching towards Khiva — which means you can build a Silk Road itinerary with no internal flights and no long drives at all.

Planning your Uzbekistan tour: when to come and how it works

Uzbekistan is having a record year. More than 7.7 million international visitors arrived in the first seven months of 2026, up over 22 percent on last year, and the country is now visa-free for citizens of around 90 nations — including the UK, the EU and Schengen states, the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the GCC countries, typically for 30 days. Almost everyone else can apply online for an e-visa. There is genuinely no paperwork obstacle left.

Come in autumn if you can. September through early November brings dry, mild days, bazaars stacked with melons, grapes and pomegranates, and the low golden light that makes turquoise tile look lit from inside. Spring, late March to May, is the other window.

GoUzbekistan is a licensed Uzbek tour operator — licence No. 662280, Committee for Tourism Development — with ground operations running since 2007 and our own team based in Bukhara. We are not reselling somebody else's programme: we run the guides, the drivers and the hotel relationships ourselves, for private travellers and as a white-label ground operator for agencies abroad. Create your own custom tour and tell us how many days you have, or explore our tours to start from a route we already know works.

Just promise us one thing. Before you get on the train to Samarkand, go down the escalator.

Plan your Uzbekistan trip — in your language

العربية — السياحة في أوزبكستان على طريق الحرير

سمرقند وبخارى وخيوة تنتظرك: قباب فيروزية، أسواق حرير، وضيافة دافئة على طريق الحرير. رحلات خاصة بسائق ومرشد يتحدث العربية، وفنادق مختارة، ومطاعم حلال في كل مدينة. صمّم رحلتك الخاصة إلى أوزبكستان أو تصفّح برامجنا السياحية.

Deutsch — Usbekistan Reise und Seidenstraße Rundreise

Samarkand, Buchara und Chiwa in einer Rundreise: türkisfarbene Kuppeln, Karawansereien und Schnellzüge zwischen den Oasenstädten. Wir planen Ihre Usbekistan Reise individuell — mit deutschsprachiger Reiseleitung und ausgesuchten Hotels. Jetzt Ihre Reise zusammenstellen oder unsere Rundreisen ansehen.

Español — Viajes a Uzbekistán por la Ruta de la Seda

Samarcanda, Bujará y Jiva: cúpulas turquesas, bazares de especias y noches en caravasares restaurados. Diseñamos tu viaje a Uzbekistán a medida, con guías en español y hoteles seleccionados. Crea tu viaje personalizado o descubre nuestros circuitos.

Français — Voyage en Ouzbékistan sur la Route de la Soie

Samarcande, Boukhara et Khiva vous attendent : coupoles turquoise, ateliers de soie et trains rapides entre les oasis. Nous construisons votre voyage en Ouzbékistan sur mesure, avec guides francophones et hôtels choisis. Composez votre voyage ou parcourez nos circuits.

中文 — 乌兹别克斯坦旅游·丝绸之路·撒马尔罕

撒马尔罕、布哈拉、希瓦——蓝色穹顶、香料市集与丝绸之路的千年故事。中国公民免签入境，我们提供中文向导、精选酒店与高铁衔接的定制行程。定制您的专属行程，或浏览我们的线路。

Русский — Туры в Узбекистан по Шёлковому пути

Самарканд, Бухара и Хива: бирюзовые купола, шумные базары и скоростные поезда между городами-оазисами. Составим индивидуальный тур в Узбекистан — русскоязычные гиды, проверенные отели, трансферы. Создать свой тур или посмотреть готовые туры.