Tajikistan - Central Asia - page 331

Khojand
æ Sights ÿ Sleeping

1 Citadel ...................................................... A2 7 Grand Hotel Khujand ..............................A3

2 Historical Museum of Sughd 8 Hotel Heson..............................................B2

9 Hotel Khujand ..........................................B3

Province ................................................ A2

3 Museum of Archaeology & 10 Hotel Leninobod ......................................A2

11 Hotel Sharq ..............................................D4

Fortifications ........................................ A2

4 Panchshanbe Bazaar ............................. D4 12 Hotel Vahdat ............................................B3

5 Sheikh Massal ad-Din complex............. D4
6 WWII Monument ..................................... D4 ú Eating
13 Café Ravshan ...........................................B3
14 Cafe Sharq................................................D4

Grand¨Hotel¨Khujand¨ BOUTIQUE HOTEl $$
( % 605 99; [e-mail]; Tamburi
20; d 500-600TJS; aW ) Khojand's best luxury
choice, this attractive new place is ideally
placed, right opposite the citadel. There are
slight art-nouveau touches to the over-glossy
wooden furniture and the 16 rooms are in-
dulgently spacious, though some fittings
seem more for show than built to last.
5 ¨Eating
Chaikhanas, piroshki sellers and shashlyk
grills are plentiful along Rajabov west of
Lenin, and around the bazaar where there's
a cheap cafeteria (Sharq; h 4am-10pm) be-
neath Hotel Sharq.
Café¨Ravshan¨ CENTRAl ASIAN $$
(Rajabov 102; mains 9.50-24TJS, beer 6-10TJS;
h 6am-10.30pm) This central semi-smart cafe
features mirror-facet flowers and chequer-
board couch seats. The kitchen barbeques
great okaroshka (chicken kebabs, 10TJS),
but beware of the coffee (2TJS) which is in-
stant and heavily pre-sweetened.

Other Dushanbe shared taxis, plus transport
to Oybek (for Tashkent, Uzbekistan) via Buston
(10TJS) use the big Abreshim bus station out in
the distant northeastern suburbs.

8 Getting¨Around
Marshrutka 55 (1TJS) links Abreshim bus station
to Isfara Avtostanisa; 29 and 33 link the Yova
and Abreshim bus stations. The airport, 16km
southeast at Chkalovsk, is accessible by minibus
80 (2TJS). All above routes and many more pass
along lenin near the central Rajabov junction.
Route 3A links Yova to the Isfara Avtostanisa bus
station via Panchshanbe Bazaar.

Isfara Исфара
If you're heading to Kyrgyzstan without an
Uzbekistan visa, head first to Isfara, which
feels strikingly more prosperous than
Batken across the Kyrgyzstan border.
The main east-west street, Markazi, has
banks including Amonat Bank and Eskhata
Bank (Markezi 31) with Visa/MasterCard
ATMs. The latter is beside the new Ismoil¨So-
moni¨monument , opposite the predictably
run-down Soviet-era Hotel¨Isfara (Markezi 18;
d 20-50TJS) . To get there from the bus station
take marshrutka 1 or 9 or walk a block north
past the bazaar, then 10 minutes crossing the
bridge beside the spendid new-but-tradition-
al Oriyol¨Teahouse . Facing the teahouse,
Hotel¨ Vatan has extremely basic rooms
(from 10TJS per bed) and an internet room.
Isfara bus station has direct cars to Dush-
anbe (130TJS) but they fill slowly. It's often
cheaper and rarely much slower to change
in Khojand (minibus/shared taxi 10/20TJS)
even though you'll need to change bus sta-
tions. Batken-bound minibuses (4TJS, 40
minutes) leave at 10am, 1pm and 4pm. The
first departure arrives in time (just!) to con-
nect with the last Batken-Osh marshrutka.

8 Getting¨There¨&¨Away
There are daily lights to Dushanbe (from
340TJS) and to numerous Russian cities includ-
ing Novosibirsk (from 820TJS).
There are three main 'bus' stations. Minibuses
and shared taxis to Kanibadam/Kanibodom
(minibus 328; 8TJS, 1½ hours) for Kokand,
Uzbekistan, and to Isfara (minibus 301; 10TJS,
two hours, mornings only) for Osh, Kyrgyzstan,
leave from the inconspicuous little Isfara Avto-
stanitsa (lenin), opposite some metal silos 5km
southeast of Panchshanbe.
Shared taxis to Penjikent (100TJS, seven
hours) and Dushanbe (100TJS to 120TJS per
seat, six hours) plus regular minibus 314 to Is-
taravshan (4TJS, 90 minutes) all leave from the
Yova ( Ёва ) bus station (Kamoli Khojandi).