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Khujand
City in northwestern Tajikistan

Khujand

Khujand, sometimes spelled Khodjent and formerly known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan and the capital of its northernmost Sughd province.

Plan a trip to Khujand→From Dushanbe
Get in

Getting to Khujand

  1. 01
    Khujand Airport
See

Worth seeing

For an almost 3000-year-old city, there are very few historical sites left. Still, Khujand has plenty to offer. Here are some places to see in town:

  1. 01
    Arbob Palace

    A government building that was built in the 1950s as headquarters for a Soviet kolkhoz (collective farm).

  2. 02
    Historical Museum of Sughd Region
  3. 03
    Independence

    A stele next to the river and a very tall Tajik flagpole.

  4. 04
    Kamoli Khujandi Park and Museum
  5. 05
    Kamoli Khujandi Theatre
  6. 06
    Khujand Fortress
Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Kanatnaya Doroga

    Ride an aerial tramway between Kamoli Khujand Park and Somoni Park, over the Syr Darya River.

Eat

Where to eat

Locals claim that they have the best food in all of Tajikistan! While you may or may not agree, it certainly is worth trying. The Khujandi version of plov (called "Osh" in the city) is very similar to the Samarkandi style, as opposed to the Dushanbe style found in the southern half of the country. There are numerous small restaurants and cafés throughout the town, as well as street vendors.

  1. 01
    Cafe Suman

    Serves generic Russian and Tajik food (borscht, shchi, meats, salads, etc.) for a very low cost.

  2. 02
    World of Shish-Kabobs
  3. 03
    Golden Fish
  4. 04
    Oshi Palov
  5. 05
    Saray
How locals move

Getting around Khujand the local way

Khujand sits in the Ferghana Valley, cut off from the rest of Tajikistan by the Turkestan and Hisar ranges, and that geography decides everything. Tashkent is 174 km away and about four hours including the border; Dushanbe is 340 km away over two high tunnels and takes four to five hours when the road is open, which in February it sometimes is not. There is no intercity bus network and no train to the capital, so almost every domestic journey is a shared taxi, and shared taxis do not leave from one terminal. They sort themselves by direction across three stands: Avtovokzal for Istaravshan, Panjakent and Dushanbe, Avtostantsiya near Somon Bazaar for Isfara and Konibodom, and Abreshim in the north for Buston, Mastchoh and the drivers who run to the Oybek border post. Inside the city, marshrutkas nest at Panjshanbe bazaar and are identified by the place names on the windscreen card rather than the route number. The trolleybus that ran here from 1970 is gone. The airport, 10 km away in Buston, is really a labour-migration airport: most of its departures are to Russian cities.

  1. 01
    Shared taxis to Dushanbeshare taxi

    Khujand Avtovokzal to Dushanbe, over the Shahriston and Anzob tunnels

    Where
    Go to Avtovokzal, the bus station on the southern side of town; this is the stand for everything heading south. Drivers call out Dushanbe and fill a four-seat car. There is no bus and no train on this route – shared taxis are the only surface option. Ask for a seat in the middle if you are nervous of heights, because the road climbs to over 3,000 m. Competition between drivers is heavy, so foreigners are not usually overcharged, but haggling of about 20 somoni is normal. Drivers will often drop you at an address in Dushanbe for a little more.
    When
    No timetable. Cars fill and go through the day, most departures early morning; the last useful departure is early afternoon if you want to arrive in daylight
    Fare (2025)
    120–150 somoni per seat depending on how well you haggle (2025). Earlier reports put it at 60–120 somoni depending on time of day and type of car
    Takes
    4–5 hours, longer if the driver stops for lunch. Winter closures can add a day
    Season
    Year-round in principle, but the Ayni–Istaravshan section is genuinely dangerous in winter and spring. When the road closes, Somon Air's Dushanbe flight is the fallback and goes daily in winter
    Booking
    None. Turn up at Avtovokzal and pay the driver

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · confidence high

  2. 02
    Regional shared taxis and marshrutkas, and which stand to useshare taxi

    Khujand to Istaravshan, Panjakent, Isfara, Konibodom, Buston, Mastchoh, Guliston and the Kayrakkum reservoir

    Where
    There is no single terminal, and going to the wrong one costs you an hour. Three stands split the map. Avtovokzal, on the south side, handles Istaravshan and everything further south including Panjakent and Dushanbe. Avtostantsiya, just before Somon Bazaar at the southern end of town, handles Isfara and Konibodom – on these marshrutkas you pay when you get off, not when you board. Abreshim, the northern bus station, handles Buston, Mastchoh and the taxi drivers who run to the Oybek border post. Marshrutkas and shared taxis pool at the same places, so if no marshrutka is going your way a shared taxi will be. Panjakent is a shared-taxi-only destination.
    When
    When full, from early morning; thinner after mid-afternoon and much thinner on the long routes
    Fare (2025)
    About 120 somoni per seat Khujand to Panjakent (2023). Short regional runs are a few somoni; Kayrakkum reservoir marshrutkas are 5–10 somoni from the city centre (2025)
    Takes
    Istaravshan about 1 hour 30 minutes (78 km); Isfara about an hour; Konibodom about 2 hours by marshrutka and a little less by shared taxi; Panjakent about 5 hours over the Shahriston pass road
    Season
    Year-round. The Panjakent road over the Zeravshan side is best avoided in deep winter
    Booking
    None, pay the driver, and on the Isfara and Konibodom marshrutkas pay on arrival

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikipedia.org (2025-07) · confidence high

  3. 03
    City marshrutkas and busesmarshrutka

    Panjshanbe bazaar to Univermag, Yova, Atush-Somon, Jum'a bazaar, Avtovokzal, the airport at Chkalovsk and the cardiology hospital

    Where
    The nest is at Panjshanbe, the main market next to Univermag. Each minibus carries a card in the windscreen with a route number and the main destinations written in Tajik Cyrillic; ignore the number and read the place names. The ones worth learning are Универмаг, Ёва, Панҷшанбе, Атуш-Сомон, Ҷумъа, Автовокзал, Аэропорт/Чкаловск and Кардиалогия. One trap: Сомони is a park in the city and Сомон is a clothing bazaar on the outskirts, and minibuses to both leave from Panjshanbe. City buses take a contactless transport card rather than cash; the card is sold at terminals around the city. The Soviet-era trolleybus, which opened in November 1970, stopped running in September 2010 and was formally closed in April 2013, so do not plan around it.
    When
    Frequent on the main axes through the day, sparse after dark
    Fare (2025)
    3 somoni for a marshrutka from the city centre or the northern bus stop (July 2025); Wikivoyage recorded 2.5 somoni in 2024. The City Card for buses costs 10 somoni, of which 6 is travel credit and 4 is a refundable deposit
    Takes
    Most city trips are 10–25 minutes; the city is walkable but further across than it looks on a map
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    None. Cash to the marshrutka driver, card on the buses

    Sources: en.wikipedia.org (2025-07) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikipedia.org (2026-09) · confidence high

  4. 04
    Taxis and the Maxim appprivate hire

    Around Khujand and out to Chkalovsk, Somon Bazaar and Avtostantsiya

    Where
    Hailing from the kerb is unusual here; people phone or use an app. Maxim works only in Khujand and the surrounding villages and has the most usable app, run along the same lines as Yandex. Rakhsh, which also operates in Dushanbe, takes bookings by phone. Fares are fixed by distance zone rather than metered, so you know the price before you get in.
    When
    On demand, day and night
    Fare (2025)
    From 9 somoni for a short hop across the river, about 12 somoni between the fortress and Panjshanbe, 21 somoni to Somon Bazaar or Avtostantsiya, about 30 somoni to the airport at Chkalovsk. Wikivoyage elsewhere quotes 50 somoni for the airport run (2024–2025)
    Takes
    Airport run about 20 minutes
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    App or phone call

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · confidence medium

  5. 05
    Oybek–Fotehobod crossing for Tashkentborder crossing

    Khujand to the Fotehobod (Tajik side) / Oybek (Uzbek side) post, then on to Tashkent

    Where
    This is the post foreigners use for Tashkent, and it is the busiest crossing on the Tajik–Uzbek border. Get to Abreshim, the northern bus station, by city marshrutka or taxi; a crowd of drivers there runs the border shuttle. As of 2024 and 2025 no marshrutka goes to the border itself – some go as far as Buston or Mastchoh, where you may be able to pick up a ride, but the reliable move is a shared taxi from Abreshim. Do the same in reverse: there is no scheduled service waiting on the Tajik side, so take a taxi. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan dropped visas for each other's citizens in 2018 and the post has been rebuilt since, with a new customs inspection hangar and scanners commissioned in 2026.
    When
    Drivers wait at Abreshim through the day; the post keeps normal daytime hours
    Fare (2025)
    About 50–80 somoni for a taxi to or from the Oybek post; 40–50 somoni per person if you share from Abreshim (2024–2025). Other reports say 50–100 somoni depending on the time of day
    Takes
    About 40 minutes Khujand to the border, then roughly 2 hours on to Tashkent. Khujand to Tashkent end to end is about 4 hours with the crossing
    Season
    Year-round; this route is not affected by the mountain closures that shut the Dushanbe road
    Booking
    None. Turn up at Abreshim

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · asiaplus.news (2026-06) · confidence high

  6. 06
    International buses to Tashkent and Almalykbus

    Khujand bus station to Tashkent bus station via Buston, the Fotehobod and Oybek posts, Buka and Nurafshon; and Khujand to Almalyk

    Where
    Buy at the ticket window in Khujand's bus station, not from a driver. The bus clears the border as a group, in a separate lane from the foot traffic, which is the main reason to take it over a shared taxi. Only two cross-border bus routes were still running as of late 2024: Khujand–Tashkent and Khujand–Almalyk. Fifteen have been launched since 2018 and most were dropped for lack of passengers, so check the window before relying on one.
    When
    Khujand–Tashkent has run up to three times a day each way in its fuller periods (Khujand 06:00, 13:00, 18:00; Tashkent 08:00, 12:00, 18:00), but has also run as a single daily departure. Khujand–Almalyk is one bus a day each way, leaving Almalyk at 07:00 and Khujand at 10:00
    Fare (2024)
    Khujand–Tashkent has been sold at 50 somoni and later at 100 somoni; you pay in the currency of the country you leave from. Khujand–Almalyk is 60 somoni leaving Khujand and 60,000 Uzbek som leaving Almalyk (2024)
    Takes
    About 4.5 hours Khujand to Tashkent including the border, over 174 km; about 5 hours to Almalyk
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    Ticket windows at the Khujand and Tashkent bus stations

    Sources: asiaplus.news (2024-09) · vecherka.tj (2018-05) · vecherka.tj (2021-10) · confidence medium

  7. 07
    Khujand International Airport (LBD)scheduled flight

    Buston, 10 km from the city, to Russian cities, Dushanbe, Kashgar and Bishkek

    Where
    Known locally by the old name of the town it sits in, Chkalovsk, and coded LBD from the Soviet name Leninabad. Marshrutkas marked Аэропорт or Чкаловск run there from Panjshanbe; a taxi is about 30–50 somoni. Look at the route map before assuming you can fly here from the region: it is dominated by Russian destinations flown by Ural Airlines, Utair, Nordwind, S7 and Yamal – Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Surgut, Tyumen, Ufa, Kazan, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Mineralnye Vody. The non-Russian services are Somon Air to Dushanbe and Ürümqi, Chengdu Airlines once a week to Kashgar, and a Bishkek link flown from 2025. There is no currency exchange at the airport.
    When
    Somon Air flies Dushanbe daily in winter and less often in summer, on a Boeing 737; the flight takes about 40 minutes. Russian routes are typically a few a week each. Kashgar is weekly
    Fare (2025)
    US$40–60 one way Dushanbe to Khujand, cheaper the further ahead you book (Wikivoyage, 2025). Bring your passport to the ticket counter
    Takes
    40 minutes to Dushanbe against 4–5 hours by road
    Season
    Year-round. The Dushanbe flight matters most in winter, when the pass road closes; the airline adds frequencies every winter for that reason
    Booking
    Airline offices and websites; the Dushanbe flight is often bought at a counter in person

    Sources: asiaplus.news (2025-02) · en.wikipedia.org (2026-09) · asiaplus.news (2023-12) · confidence high

  8. 08
    The Dushanbe–Khujand–Chanak highway: tolls, tunnels and winter closuresservice status

    Dushanbe to Khujand and on to the Chanak border post, about 354 km

    Where
    This is the only all-Tajik road between the two halves of the country and it is a toll road, run under concession by the Tajik branch of Innovative Road Solutions. Six toll points sit along it – Varzob, Gushary, Shahriston, Istaravshan, Dehmoy and Chorukh – covering about 338 km. Two tunnels make the route usable at all: the 5.04 km Anzob (Istiqlol) tunnel at 2,720 m, opened in 2006, repaired in 2015 and formally inaugurated in 2017, and the 5.25 km Shahriston tunnel opened in 2012 under the 3,380 m Shahriston pass. Before the Anzob tunnel the road was shut for much of the year and traffic had to detour through Uzbekistan. Winter is still the problem: the Varzob stretch at km 48–74 and the Ayni stretch around km 78–81 take avalanches most winters, and the highway is closed outright while crews clear them – seven avalanches shut it in February 2026. Check before you set out and do not start the drive in bad weather.
    When
    Open year-round in principle; closures are announced by IRS and the Emergencies Committee and usually last hours to a day or two
    Fare (2026)
    Toll for a car is roughly 26.3 somoni for the whole road; the discounted rate for residents along the highway rose to 89 somoni in 2022 and was unchanged three years later (2026)
    Takes
    4–5 hours Khujand to Dushanbe
    Season
    Avalanche season runs roughly January to March. Somon Air's Dushanbe–Khujand flight is the standard workaround, and the long way round through Uzbekistan via Termez is the other
    Booking
    None; tolls are paid at the collection points

    Sources: asiaplus.news (2026-04) · asiaplus.news (2026-02) · en.wikipedia.org (2026-09) · confidence high

  9. 09
    The other borders: Ferghana Valley, Samarkand and Kyrgyzstanborder crossing

    Konibodom to Kokand; Panjakent to Samarkand; Isfara to Batken

    Where
    Three alternatives to Oybek, each reached by a different stand. For the Uzbek Ferghana Valley, take a marshrutka or shared taxi from Avtostantsiya to Konibodom and cross to Kokand; the Konibodom–Khujand leg is about 2 hours. For Samarkand, most people go via Panjakent: shared taxi from Avtovokzal to Panjakent, then a shared taxi from Panjakent bazaar to the Sarazm–Jartepa border for about 10 somoni, walk across, and pick up Uzbek transport for the 45-minute run into Samarkand. No vehicle crosses that border with you. For Kyrgyzstan, the border was shut from 2021 to 2025 over the Sughd boundary dispute and reopened in March 2025 once demarcation was agreed; the easiest route is Khujand to Isfara from Avtostantsiya, then across to Batken. Note that the Khujand–Isfara road runs close to the former disputed line around Chkalovsk.
    When
    Daylight hours at the posts; shared transport fills through the morning
    Fare (2025)
    About 10 somoni Panjakent bazaar to the Uzbek border by shared taxi (2025); about 20 somoni for the short hop on the Tajik side coming the other way; 20,000 Uzbek som Samarkand to the border by marshrutka
    Takes
    Konibodom about 2 hours from Khujand; Panjakent about 5 hours, then 1 hour to Samarkand; Isfara about 1 hour
    Season
    Year-round for the valley crossings. The Panjakent route from Khujand goes over mountain roads and is best avoided in deep winter
    Booking
    None

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · en.wikivoyage.org (2025-06) · confidence medium

Not yet confirmed: The brief asks about crossings 'at Oybek and Buston'. These are not two crossings. The Tajik side of the Oybek post is called Fotehobod, and Buston is a separate town 10 km from Khujand, the one the airport is in and formerly called Chkalovsk. Marshrutkas from Abreshim run to Buston but not to the border.; The brief asks whether the Soviet-era trolleybus still runs. It does not. The Khujand system opened on 3 November 1970, was suspended in 2008–2009, last ran in September 2010 and was formally closed in April 2013.; The Tajik foreign ministry's crossing list, as reproduced on Wikipedia, classes only Patar–Andarxon, Fotehobod–Oybek, Dusti–Sariosiyo and Aivadj–Gulbahor as international road crossings, and calls Sarazm–Jartepa near Panjakent and Sarband/Kushtegirmon–Bekabad bilateral. That conflicts with traveller reports of foreigners routinely using Sarazm–Jartepa for Samarkand. Verify the status of anything other than Oybek and Patar before relying on it.; No dated 2024-or-later fare was found for the Khujand–Tashkent bus. The 50 somoni figure is from the 2018 launch and the 100 somoni figure from the 2021 restart; Asia-Plus confirms the route was still active in September 2024 but did not print a price.; Khujand's municipal bus service was reported as stopping and restarting during 2025. The transport-card system and the 10 somoni card price are confirmed from 2020; the current bus fare was not found.; The airport's current schedule could not be read directly – there is no working operator timetable page. Airline and destination lists come from Wikipedia and Asia-Plus, and frequencies for the Russian routes are not confirmed.; No current published toll table for the Dushanbe–Chanak road was retrievable; irs.tj hosts one as an image. The car figure of about 26.3 somoni is Asia-Plus's own conversion in April 2026.; Marshrutka fares inside Khujand are 2.5 somoni on Wikivoyage (2024) and 3 somoni on Wikipedia (July 2025). Assume 3 somoni and carry small notes..

The field note on Khujand reads this entry in full, one option at a time, with every source beside it.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Satdeep Gill (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.