Uzbekistan - Central Asia - page 149

213. For Visa cash advances (3.5%), head to
room 212, where english is spoken.
Kapital Bank (Nukus ko'chasi; h 9am-5pm
Mon-Fri; m Toshkent) Charges 2% for cash
advances against Visa cards. The office is on
the ground floor to the right as you enter the
building.
POST
in addition to the main post oice (pochta
bulimi; Shakhrisabz 7; h 9am-8pm; m Abdulla
Qodiriy), there are smaller post oices scattered
around town, including a branch near Chorsu
Bazaar.
REGISTRATION
OVIR Central Office ( % 132 65 70, 231 45
40; Uzbekistan 49A; h 9am-5pm Mon-Fri;
m ozbekistan)
TELEPHONE
Central Telephone & Telegraph Office (Navoi
28; h 9am-6pm; m Alisher Navoi) great
connection and a plethora of other telecom
services available.
TRAVEL & TOUR AGENCIES
independent travellers will be happy to know
that it's actually easy to go it alone in Uzbek-
istan. Still, even if you're organising your trip
alone, travel agencies can still be useful for
planning hassle-free excursions, prearranging
domestic air tickets and securing qualiied
guides for outdoor activities such as trekking,
rafting and heli-skiing. Also, if you need a letter
of invitation to apply for a visa (see p225) then
the assistance of a travel agency is usually
essential.
Advantour ( % 150 30 20; www.advantour.
com; Mirobod lane i 47A; h 9am-6pm Mon-
Fri; m oybek) Advantour draws rave reviews
for its service and can customise tours for
both groups and individuals in Uzbekistan
and across Central Asia. The personable and
knowledgeable owners speak perfect english,
and all the major services, from visa support
to hotel booking, tours and transportation can
be arranged.
Arostr Tourism ( % [phone], 256
40 67; www.arostr.uz; Afrosiab 13, office 66;
h 9am-6pm Mon-Fri; m Kosmonavtlar) Arostr
is a solid choice for individual travellers as it
arranges obligation-free visas, can book hotels,
guides and transport and its comprehensive
website is a good source of general travel
advice.
Asia Adventures ( % 252 72 87, 150 62 80;
www.centralasia-adventures.com; Kunaev
27/10, office 23; h 9am-6pm Mon-Fri; m oy-
bek) This adventure-travel specialist offers a
range of exciting mountaineering, camel safari
and heli-skiing tours throughout the country, as

well as more traditional guided tours of Khiva,
Bukhara and Samarkand.
Asian Special Tourism (AST; % 281 58 60;
www.ast.uz; Mironshoh tupik iii 18; h 9am-
6pm Mon-Fri; m Toshkent) Few people know
the local mountains like agency lead guide
Boris Karpov, who also leads the twice-per-
month excursions of the Tashkent hiking
Club. This company also runs one- to three-
day easy rafting trips on the Syr-Darya around
Bekobod, plus the full gamut of standard
tours.
Stantours (www.stantours.com) Based in
Kazakhstan, David Berghof's superb Stan-
tours arranges obligation-free Uzbek visas
and doles out up-to-the-minute advice on
securing Central Asian visas in Tashkent, as
well as other services such as hotel and flight
booking.
VISA EXTENSIONS
one-week visa extensions (US$40) are relatively
easy to obtain at the airport - bring plenty of
patience, though.

8 Getting¨There¨&¨Away
AIR
The main international gateways to Tashkent
are Moscow, İstanbul, Paris, Frankfurt, Riga
and Dubai. Low cost airline Air Baltic's lights
from Riga are usually the cheapest route from
europe and North America. Sample one-way
fares to/from Tashkent include: Urumqi
US$555, Astana US$225, İstanbul US$490,
Moscow US$280.
Domestic lights leave from the new domestic
terminal (called Terminal 3), about 5km from
the international terminal, which is 6km south
of the centre.
From Tashkent, Uzbekistan Airways lies to
Andijon (US$37, two weekly), Bukhara (US$50,
at least daily), Fergana (US$42, daily except
Sunday), Nukus (US$68, two daily), Termiz
(US$67, three daily), Samarkand (US$21, at
least daily) and Urgench (US$85, multiple
daily).
Airline Offices
AC Kyrgyzstan ( % 252 16 45; Mirobod 27;
h 9am-6pm Mon-Fri; m oybek) Flies to
Bishkek.
Aeroflot ( % 120 05 55; Bobur 73; h 9am-6pm
Mon-Sat) Daily flights to Moscow and connec-
tions on to the rest of the world.
Air Baltic ( % 120 90 12; Beshyogoch 104A, 2nd
fl; h 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) Cheap connections to
all over europe via Riga.
Asiana Airlines ( % 140 09 01, 140 09 00; Afro-
siab 16, Angel's Food Bldg, 2nd fl; h 9am-6pm
Mon-Sat; m oybek) Flies to Seoul.