- Chorsu
- 9:00-18:00; arrive by 10
- Station
- Chorsu, blue O'zbekiston line
- Fare
- UZS 2,500 electronic / 3,000 cash
- Chain
- Kosmonavtlar, Alisher Navoi, Mustakillik
- Watch
- Long escalators, cash for stalls
Chorsu Bazaar and the Tashkent Metro are not two items on a list - they are one morning. The bazaar has its own metro station, and the chain of ornate stations fans out from it. Plan them together and the city clicks into place; plan them separately and you double your taxi rides. Here is the combination that works.
The anchor: Chorsu Bazaar
The bazaar opens 9:00-18:00 (official city listing). Arrive by 10 AM: stalls full, crowds thin, bread ovens at full blast. The blue-domed main hall holds spices, dried fruit and the famous nan; the outer ring is produce and meat. Budget 90 minutes unhurried, more if you snack your way through. Chorsu station on the blue O'zbekiston line exits almost at the gates - this is why the metro pairing is natural.
The chain: stations worth riding to
From Chorsu, ride the blue line and then interchange for the three stations everyone photographs: Kosmonavtlar (space-age murals of cosmonauts), Alisher Navoi (turquoise-vaulted domes over the platform), and Mustakillik Maydoni (marble columns at Independence Square). Ten minutes at each is enough; the rides between are two to four minutes. The whole loop from the bazaar and back takes about 90 minutes. Fare: UZS 2,500 per ride with a bank-card tap at the gate (3,000 cash) - so the entire art tour costs about Rs 70 in tickets.
Timing the morning
The clean sequence: metro to Chorsu by 9:45, bazaar till 11:15, station loop till 13:00, emerge at Mustakillik Maydoni for Amir Temur Square and a late lunch nearby. Weekdays beat Saturdays - the bazaar is a working market and fills with locals on weekends. In summer, do the bazaar first before the heat; the metro is air-conditioned and works as the cool-down leg.
Hidden complications
Small things catch people: bazaar stalls are cash-only, so carry som in small notes (UZS 100,000-200,000 covers generous snacking and dried-fruit souvenirs). The metro's escalators are long and brisk - brief parents before the first descent, and read our Tashkent Metro senior guide if anyone is unsteady. Photography is allowed everywhere - a rule change from 2018 that old guidebooks still get wrong. And keep the bazaar visit to the morning: by 17:00 stalls start closing ahead of the 18:00 shut. This morning slots straight into day one of our 3-day Tashkent itinerary.
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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