Before you start

ATTO transport card
Valid foreign licence plus an International Driving Permit

Step-by-step

1
Buy an ATTO card immediately
ATTO is the transport card for the metro and buses. Tapping with it costs UZS 1,700 a ride against UZS 3,000 for a paper QR ticket bought at an infokiosk, and transfer discounts reduce subsequent journeys further. The card itself costs a small deposit. Buy it at any metro station. It is the single cheapest quality-of-life purchase you will make in this city.
In personWho: AllImmediateSmall card deposit, then UZS 1,700 per ride
2
Ride the metro — four lines and worth seeing for their own sake
Opened in 1977 and the oldest metro in Central Asia, the network now runs several lines including an elevated ring, and covers the central city well. Each station is individually themed in engraved metal, glass, marble and ceramic. Photography was forbidden until June 2018 because the system doubled as a nuclear shelter and was classified as a military facility; it is now permitted and the stations are a legitimate sightseeing itinerary in their own right.
In personWho: AllImmediateUZS 1,700 per ride with ATTO
3
Use Yandex Go for everything else
Yandex Go is the dominant ride-hailing app and fares are among the lowest of any capital in this dataset — most in-city trips cost a couple of dollars. Informal shared taxis still operate on set routes and are cheaper again, but require Russian or Uzbek and a sense of the fair price. The boulevards are wide and traffic moves, so journeys are usually faster than the map distance implies.
Mobile appWho: AllImmediateUZS 20,000-60,000 for typical city trips
4
Drive on a foreign licence and IDP as a visitor; convert once resident
Visitors drive on a valid foreign licence, and an International Driving Permit alongside it removes argument at rentals and traffic stops. Once you hold a residence permit you should expect to convert to an Uzbek licence rather than running indefinitely on the foreign one. Requirements depend on your country of issue and have changed during the reform period — confirm the current process through the state services portal rather than assuming a straight exchange.
In personWho: Visitors, then residence permit holdersWeeks for a conversionState duty plus medical certificate and translation

Documents you’ll need

ATTO transport card
Foreign driving licence and translation
International Driving Permit
Medical certificate (for conversion)
Residence permit or PINFL

Things most newcomers don’t know

The paper QR ticket costs nearly twice what an ATTO tap costs — UZS 3,000 against UZS 1,700.

Newcomers buy paper tickets at the infokiosk for weeks because nobody tells them the card exists. Over a month of commuting that is a meaningful difference in a city this cheap, and the transfer discounts on ATTO reduce the second journey further. Buy the card on your first metro trip.

Source: Tashkent Metro / ATTO

Tashkent's boulevards are a product of the 1966 earthquake, and they make the city easy to drive and hard to walk.

The city was largely rebuilt to a Soviet master plan after the earthquake destroyed the centre, with enormous roads, deliberate green space and monumental blocks. The result is that distances that look walkable on a map involve crossing eight-lane boulevards through underpasses. Budget more time on foot than the map suggests, or take the metro for what looks like a fifteen-minute walk.

Photography in the metro was banned for forty-one years and is now permitted — this is recent enough that some staff still object.

The system was built as a nuclear shelter and classified as a military facility, and the ban only lifted in June 2018. Occasionally an older member of staff will still wave a camera down. It is legal; be polite about it, avoid photographing staff or security, and the objection usually evaporates.

Source: Reporting of the June 2018 lifting

Ride-hailing is cheap enough that most foreign residents never buy a car, but the mountain roads are a different proposition.

In-city trips cost a couple of dollars, so ownership rarely pays off for a Tashkent-based life. The exception is the Chimgan and Charvak weekends, where a shared taxi or a rented car with a driver is the norm — and where signal and road conditions in the valleys make solo driving in winter a genuine decision rather than a default.

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying paper QR tickets for weeks instead of an ATTO card, at nearly double the fare
Underestimating walking distances across the post-1966 boulevards
Running indefinitely on a foreign licence after obtaining a residence permit
Taking an informal shared taxi without knowing the fair price
Driving to Chimgan in winter without checking road conditions and downloading maps

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.