Planes (Dushanbe, Tashkent & Almaty), Trains and Automobiles
Planes:
There are limited flights to Tajikistan. The big news here, in terms of planes is really the new AirBaltic flights.
WESTERN FLIGHTS
Air Baltic:
It is a budget airline and if booking in advance flights are far cheaper from Europe than anything else (it also comes with constraints of budget flights). The Tajikistan flights go from Riga but it is possible to book a trip from London to Dushanbe on the airline with just a change in Riga. The good news is also that Ryan Air flies to Riga so economically it can still make a lot of sense. Air Baltic flights in 2010 finish at the beginning of October and will hopefully begin again in Spring 2011.
Turkish Airlines – go via/from Istanbul. This has been the established route from Western Europe to Dushanbe and it is a good airline.
Somon Air – Tajikistan’s first private airline (without very expensive prices), based in Dushanbe. Flies to/from Frankfurt, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Khujand, Dubai.
RUSSIA FLIGHTS
Connecting in Moscow: Further flights to Dushanbe originate in Moscow and so you can book connecting flights there. Most flights go via St Petersburg. These flight companies include:
Rossiya Airlines (Russian Government owned).
Orenair – flights from Orenburg, Russia.
Siberia Airlines – (has an easy to use website)
A quite useful website to use to see what is flying from Russia is: Alternative Airlines
CHINA FLIGHT:
China Southern
Flights to Neighboring countries:
Tashkent and Almaty have much larger flight hubbs than Dushanbe and these make sense if doing a Central Asian tour.
Flying into Uzbekistan: There are no flights between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and therefore if flying to Tashkent will need to travel overland to Tajikistan. This choice isn’t difficult and is quite economical if time-consuming. Many public buses and taxis go from Tashkent (capital of Uzbekistan) to Samarkand (which is always nice for a couple of days) and this takes about 5 hours. Samarkand is only a couple of hours from the Tajik Penjikent border. It is best to check that the borders are open as Uzbekistan frequently shuts it’s borders with Tajikistan and also there are many holidays. Foreigners can often get across shut border crossings even if locals cannot.
Western airline companies flying to Tashkent include: Lufthansa, Air Baltic, Turkish Airlines and Czech Airlines.
Flying into Almaty, Kazakhstan:
Tajik Air flies from Almaty to Dushanbe.
Airlines flying to and from Europe include:
Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, KLM, BMi
Trains:
(Thanks to Mark at Seat61) for this info referencing the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable:
*’Train 367 leaves Dushanbe at 08:08 on Mondays & Wednesdays, arriving Khujand at 14:04 next day. It will probably have 4-berth kupe & platskartny, there’s no mention of any spalny vagon 2-berth. The train’s final destination is Kanibadam, a frontier point it seems. No mention of any restaurant car.
It returns as train 368, leaving Khujand at 16:34 on Fridays & Sundays, arriving Dushanbe at 22:36 next day.
There’s a separate train that runs Khujand-Samarqand-Saratov, three times a week. Train 335 depart Khujand 18:44 Mon, Thur, Sat, arriving Samarqand at 02:15 (ouch!). Train 336 departs Samarqand 06:10 on Wed, Fri, Sun, arriving Khujand 14:27. Again, looks like 4-berth kupe and platskartny, probably no 2-berth. No mention of any restaurant car. ‘
This train about twice as long as it would to drive the route and is not apparently a very comfortable train either. Not recommended!
*For general train travel, including all info for Central Asia – Seat61 is THE resource.
Automobiles:
If you have your very own car and thinking of making an overland expedition, these should be of interest for starters:
*Horizons Unlimited & The Hubb forum
*If wanting to do something a bit different / go with others / or leave the vehicle there: Roof of the World Rally
