Would you believe that in this magnificent Silk Road city we found amusement parks and swimming pools? We had a great time exploring and found plenty of fun things to do in Tashkent!
As a likely first stop for any family travelling in Central Asia, Tashkent has a lot to live up to. I know it always seems to take us 24 hours to find our feet in a new city (even amidst the now-familiar bustle of any Asian capital). And arriving in Tashkent was no exception.
It takes a little while to adjust to the grand scale of Soviet architecture and to get used to seeing Cyrillic as standard signposting. But Tashkent is a great city to explore as a family, with just the right balance of home-like comforts combined with the adventure of travel with kids in Asia.
Read on, because these fun things to do in Tashkent with kids get unanimous votes from all of us!
Get a taste of Chorsu Bazaar
We always love a good market! No matter where we are in Asia, we always seem to find our feet in a new place and get a feel for it by visiting the market as one of our first stops.
Chorsu Bazaar is the biggest market in Central Asia (Note: don’t be put off by that. Be excited!). Grab a taxi from your accommodation and venture out to take it all in.
You will find fresh fruits, dried fruits and tables piled high with nuts. There is an entire bakery section dedicated to all kinds of (famed and sacred) Uzbek bread. And inside the main dome of the bazaar is the meat section.
Exploring Chorsu Bazaar with kids is a great experience and an awesome introduction to Central Asia. They won’t leave hungry… Uzbek people are very friendly and love kids.
We bought some bags of dried fruit and the kids were given handfuls and samples from most of the upstairs stalls!
Things to do/taste at Chorsu Bazaar
- Head upstairs: This is where the largest selection of dried fruit is but also where you can get the best view out over the whole bazaar.
- Buy an ice cream: It’s hot in Uzbek summer! Like hot, hot. An ice cream wont last long, but if you can find the little carts of frozen treats being wheeled around the bazaar you are in luck!
- Try a melon: There are melons everywhere! We didn’t realise how delicious or how popular melons would be all around Uzbekistan. And fruit vendors will be happy to give you a sample of their produce just to meet the kids!
- Find the bakery section: Don’t leave without getting some fresh Uzbek bread! Bread is sacred in Uzbekistan and each region has a different kind of bread…
- Name: Chorsu Bazaar/Chorsu Market
- Address: 57 Tafakkur Ko’chasi, Tashkent.
(Quickly) visit Hazrat Imam Complex
The architecture all over Uzbekistan tells a diverse story. However, the realities of travelling with children anywhere in the world have led to quick confirmation that gazing in appreciation at architecture is not high on many child-sized bucket lists.
Tashkent isn’t quite as renowned for architecture as it’s sister cities of Bukhara and Samarkhand. But when you arrive in Tashkent with kids, and you have stocked up on a tasty melon or two and quickly licked an ice cream; the Hazrati Iman Complex is not far away and is worth a visit.
There are two towering minarets on either side of the entrance to the Mosque complex. Inside the main square is a mosque, the mausoleum of the Saint Abu Bakr Kaffal Shashi and the Islamic Institute of Imam al-Bukhari, where future preachers are taught. You can read more about that here.
Somehow travel with kids is always a refreshing reminder of how we all see the world through different eyes.
To be honest our kids weren’t too phased on going inside. More so they loved racing around the beautiful gardens, jumping from one shade spot to the next, and admiring the incredible height of the minaret towers from below. Oh! And the drinking fountain. They loved the fountain too!
For a first outing in Tashkent with kids, the Hazrat Imam complex is a perfect way to be introduced to beautiful Islamic architecture. There will be plenty more of that to come on your travels in Uzbekistan!
We found by then the kids were close to overheating after two hours outside and it was time to move on.
Try ‘Plov’ at the Plov Centre
Tashkent makes and consumes the most plov of any city in Central Asia. (Have you heard of plov? It’s a delicious rice dish that’s eaten in countries all around the region). If you are in Tashkent with kids, add the ‘Central Asian Plov Centre’ to your itinerary quick smart. (We went twice!).
It’s likely that Tashkent will be a first stop for your arrival to Central Asia (I would recommend it over Bishkek or Almaty for choice) and thus your first taste of plov. Here, they cook plov for the masses. The restaurant can serve and cook plov for 500 people. Trust me, you will want to see it in action!
The kids loved watching the enormous cauldrons of plov being made (we all did!). And it gave them an understanding and instant connection with the dish. This put them in good stead for the next six weeks through Central Asia where plov is by far the most common dish we experienced…
I do however have to mention a slight mishap from our first visit (and one of the woes memories of travel in Uzbekistan with kids). Oscar dropped a piece of lego into the huge cauldron of Plov!
Cue raised Russian tourist voices and angry Uzbek waiters… But they did manage to fish out the piece of lego with a giant cauldron spoon. Phew!
Find the Central Asian Plov Centre
- Name: Central Asian Plov Centre
- Address: 1 Guards Colonel Khodjaev Street, Tashkent
Note: There is one other big restaurant that serves plov on an almost-similar scale. We drove right across town with one taxi driver before realizing we were heading in the wrong direction. The Central Asian Plov Centre is near by the Tashkent TV tower. You can’t miss this as it is the tallest building around (and the epitome of Soviet design). Keep a look out for that!
Cool down at Limpopo Swimming Pools
This one was all about the kids. Actually, I tell a lie. After our first day out exploring Tashkent with the kids, we were all exhausted and very, very hot. From our hostel in the Mirabad district, we weren’t far from one of the main public swimming pools in Tashkent.
And let me tell you – it is worth the walk!
The Limpopo pool and park complex has water slides, diving pools, wading and toddler pools all centered around a huge, main outdoor pool. The cost to get in is more than the other things to do in Tashkent with kids. But I can promise you, in the 40°C it is worth every som…
We became regulars at the swimming pool during our two stays in Tashkent. I’m fairly sure that this alone is probably what the kids would name as the highlight of travel in Uzbekistan!
- Name: Limpopo
- Address: Eski Sarikul Street, Tashkent
Furkat Recreation Park
Have I saved the best for last?! Tashkent actually has a lot of amusement type recreation parks! For us though, Furkat Park was perfect at only 1km from the hostel. The park is a huge outdoor area with an entire paved pedestrian walkway dedicated to all kinds of different amusement rides and childrens games.
The entrance to Furkat and the Limpopo Swimming Pools is the same (you have to walk through the park to get to the pools). There are bouncy castles, small magnet-fishing games to win prizes from, merry-go-rounds and other rides.
Prices are cheap and you can buy a ticket for the rides from a small ticket stall at the entrance to each activity.
Our kids found it amusing to try the kangaroo shaped bouncy ride… As close as we could get to an antipodean taste of home perhaps?!
It’s not an enormous park, but definitely a hit if you are in Tashkent with kids.
Find Limpopo and Furkat Recreation Park
- Name: Furqat Recreation Park
- Address: Talimarjon Street, Tashkent
Where we stayed
We loved our stay at Topchan Hostel in Tashkent. It is a modern, friendly set up not too far from the airport and easy to get to the train station. There are multiple options for rooms including one family room with private bathroom.
Breakfast is amazing (and pretty much reason enough to stay on its own!). And the staff are lovely and will look after you well. I recommend Topchan for a great place to stay on arrival in Uzbekistan, and a good base to check out all the fun things to do in Tashkent.
How to get around Uzbekistan
In Tashkent especially, quite literally any car can be a taxi. There are also authorised taxi’s with a sign on their roof, but ‘independent’ taxis means that you can wave down any private car if they are willing to stop. Just offer them a taxi fare if they are going in your direction, negotiate if you need to, and hop in.
Tashkent also has a metro (its famous for its beautifully designed stations), but we found for the cost and hassle of getting to the train station with the kids it was more efficient to take a taxi.
The local custom is to simply stand by the side of the road with your arm extended downward and slightly away from the body. If that sounds unlikely you’ll have to trust me on this one. It works!
And the good news is that it’s even possible to use independent taxis to get around Tashkent with the kids. Just take care and make sensible decisions if you choose to.
You can read more on our full guide to travel in Uzbekistan (including the highlights, practicalities and challenges).
Travel around the rest of Uzbekistan
Aside from the aforementioned swimming pools and fun park the kids loved, making the journey out to the Aral Sea was a highlight for us in Uzbekistan.
We booked a tour with Timur at Sanat Travel and I recommend getting in touch with him if you are planning family travel in Uzbekistan. Timur is a world of knowledge about travel in all of the five main Central Asian countries, and is based in Tashkent. Flick him an email on timur@ste.uz or give him a call on WhatsApp: +998 97 767 6688.
Useful links for your travels in Georgia and beyond…
These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally. (We love the flexible cancellation policy!).
- Hostelworld– The largest inventory of hostel accommodation in the world.
- Skyscanner – This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).
Read more about traveling in Central Asia
- Border crossing: Karkara, Kyrgyzstan to Keten, Kazakhstan.
- Kazakhstan: Completing a dream circuit of ‘Stans.
- 5 Reasons we loved Kyrgyzstan (and why you need to visit).
- Kyrgyz’ what? A Travel Guide to Kyrgyzstan.
- Exploring Khiva, our favourite Silk Road city.
- Visiting human disaster at the disappearing Aral Sea in Muynak.
- ‘Vodka, Plov and Non’: 12 best Uzbek Food experiences.
Let me know if you have any other highlights for Tashkent with kids to add to the list. We can’t wait to go back!