Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Agencies along Nissor Muhammed sell inter-
national tickets, plus domestic lights to Kho-
jand (several daily, from 340TJS). However, for
the 8am light to Khorog (440TJS), you'll have
to go to the
Tajik Air Main Oice
(
%
48-701
50 42; Titov 32/1;
h
7am-11am & noon-7pm),
one block west of the airport terminal (ideally
several days ahead), and put your name and
mobile phone number on a waiting list. Even
if there appears to be space, you can't be
100% sure you'll go: Khorog lights are
grounded at the irst sign of bad weather and
those with better connections might bump you
down the list.
Airline Offices
In addition to those listed below there are sev-
eral other airlines lying to numerous cities in
Russia.
Air Astana
(www.airastana.com) Three flights
weekly to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and beyond.
China Southern
(
%
881 31 71; www.flychina
southern.com; Tursunzoda 45, Paitakht
Business Centre;
h
9am-5pm Mon-Fri)
Weekly to Ürümqi, China.
FlyDubai
(www.flydubai.com; Bekhzod 1)
Wednesdays and Saturdays to/via Dubai (UAE).
Iran Aseman
(
%
221 97 03; Shotemur 22, Hotel
Tojikiston;
h
8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2pm Sat)
Mondays to Tehran, Thursdays to Mashhad
(Iran); both flights cost US$274.
Kam Air
(www.kamair.com) Thursdays to Kabul
(Afghanistan) from US$230
Somon Air
(
%
560 00 00, 640 40 50; www.
somonair.com; Nissor Muhammed 3;
h
8am-
6pm) Flies to Almaty, Khojand, Dubai, İstanbul
(Turkey), Ürümqi (1260TJS), plus six Russian
cities.
Tajik Air
(
%
229 82 06; www.tajikair.tj/en;
Nissor Muhammed 5;
h
8am-6pm) Flies to
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Almaty, Delhi (India;
US$300), İstanbul, Sharjah (UAE), Tehran,
Baku (Azerbaijan; from €250 return), and six
Russian destinations.
Turkish Airlines
(
%
48-701 15 01; kaynak@
gsakaynak.tj; Vefa Centre, Bokhtar 37/1;
h
8.30am-noon & 1-5pm Mon-Fri, to 3pm Sat)
The world via İstanbul, twice weekly.
Ural Airlines
(
%
91-864 49 67; Bukhoro 78, gu-
listan Tur Hotel) Various Russian destinations.
MINIBUS & SHARED TAXI
The main bus station has had a very snazzy
makeover. It is dominated by
Asian Express
(
%
90-710 00 30, 1616; www.asianexpress.tj;
Sino 110), whose sleek, modern buses so far
serve almost exclusively southwestern Tajikistan
including Kurgonteppa (15TJS, two hours, at
least hourly), Kulob (Kulyab; 35TJS at 7.30am,
9am and 3pm) and Shahr-i Tuz (25TJS, 8am and
2.30pm). The terminal is 3km west of Dushanbe
centre, a two-minute walk north (across rail
THE¨RASHT¨VALLEY¨¨
РАШТСКАЯ ДОЛИНА
If ongoing discussions succeed in allowing foreigners to cross the Kyrgyz-Tajik border pot
at Karamyk (hopefully by 2015), the glorious Rasht Valley might begin to gain some of the
tourit interet that it deserves. In the 1990s, the area was ravaged then tigmatised for its
civil-war role as an opposition centre. But today there's little visible evidence of that era:
towns are rebuilt and a motly excellent asphalt road sweeps through Garm (four hours
from Dushanbe) and glides on pat magniicent white-topped mountain vitas that are
mot spectacular beyond Jafr and around Gulitan (4km eat of Tojikabod). As infratruc-
ture develops it should become increasingly feasible to arrange treks into the splendid
lower-dazzled valleys and get closer to the hidden spikey-topped panoramas that give the
area a special magic.
Garm¨¨
Гарм
The valley's adminitrative centre is Garm, where
Caravan¨Tours
(
%
98-899 90 60; www.
facebook.com/CaravanToursToRasht) is a nascent local initiative by English-speaking tudents
to entice tourits to explore the area. Their proposed horse treks make a very scenic loop
around Hazor Chashme village, 24km by incredibly rough tracks across the river from
Garm. Tours encompass some fabulous mountain landscapes from the ridge above Hauz-
i-Foluma. Caravan also plans a network of hometays and should be able to help you ind
transport at fair prices for a modet commission.
Garm's main block is marked predictably enough by a large Somoni tatue, with the
bazaar across the road largely hidden behind Somoni 48. At the bazaar's southwet corner,
Hotel¨Vahdat
(
%
91-885 83 47; Usman 6; s/d/tr without bathroom 50/70/90TJS, te 150-
300TJS) is unexpectedly neat, if missing numerous light bulbs. The simple, but very clean
nine-bed
MSDSP¨Guesthouse
(Somoni 73; per person US$20, breakfat/dinner US$3/5)
hides above the Firt MicroFinance Bank.
