Passport must be valid for 6 months after returning

Children under age must have their passports as birth certificates or parents' passports are not enough

Visa

Necessary: passport + 1 form + 1 photo + payment for visit which is valid during a day.

Apply for information:

Uzbekistan Embassy

Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
41 Holland Park, London W11 2RP, UK
Tel: (020) 7229 7679. Fax: (020) 7229 7029.
E-mail: info@uzbekembassy.org
Website: www.uzbekembassy.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700; Mon-Wed and Fri 1000-1300 (consular section).

British Embassy
67 Gulyamov Street, Tashkent 700000, Uzbekistan
Tel: (71) 120 6288 or 7852/3/4 or 6451. Fax: (71) 120 6549 or 6430 (visa section).
E-mail: brit@emb.uz
Website: www.britain.uz

Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
1746 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA
Tel: (202) 887 5300. Fax: (202) 293 6804.
E-mail: embuzbekistan@uzbekistan.org or info@uzbekistan.org
Website: www.uzbekistan.org

Consulate General of the Republic of Uzbekistan
801 2nd avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: (212) 754 7403/4718. Fax: (212) 838 9812.
E-mail: info@uzbekconsulny.org
Website: www.uzbekconsulny.org

Embassy of the United States of America
82 Chilanzarskaya Street, Tashkent 700115, Uzbekistan
Tel: (71) 120 5450 or 4718/9 (consular section). Fax: (71) 120 6335 or 5448 (consular section).
E-mail: personnel@usembassy.uz or consular@usembassy.uz (consular section)
Website: www.usembassy.uz

How to get:

Uzbekistan Airways
3-4 Picton Place, London W1U 1BJ, UK
Tel: (020) 7935 1899 or 2810. Fax: (020) 7935 9554.
E-mail: lon@uzbekistan-airways.com
Website: www.uzairways.com

Tashkent

Price: 680/880 Euro

Airport "Yujniy" ( Uzbekistan ) 3km from the centre of the city

Airport fee: 10US $

Direct flights (6h) Uzbekistan " Havo Yullari" from "Ruassi"

Change flights (from 10 to 15 h.) aircompanies "British AW", "Aeroflot", "Transaero", "Turkish AL"

Alternative transport:

Mainly by train from Moscow (about 2 days to Tashkent or Samarkand , cost is less than 120 US $) or from other cities of Russia . It is possible to get by car through Turkmenistan , Tadjikistan , Kirgizstan and Kazakhstan (also Afganistan).

Tashkent has air communications with neighbor states.

Uzbekistan is located on +5 of GMT (Greenwich mean time);

-in summer difference in time is 3 hours (12:00 in France while in Uzbekistan 15:00)

-in winter difference in time is 4 hours ( 12:00 in France while in Uzbekistan 16:00)

Climate

Climate is continental with great changes in deserts and mountains. Summer is very hot: the temperature rises as high as 32'C-42'C.

Cold winter (the temperature drops as low as 30'C below freezing point), it often snows till March.

The best time for rest is spring (it sometimes rains in April) and autumn. (April, May, September, October)

The country is situated in the heart of Central Asia . It borders with all new republics: Kazakhstan , Kirgizstan , Tadjikistan , Turkmenistan , Afganistan.

Steppes and deserts are 1/3 of the territory of the country.

The Aral Sea lost its water because of Moscow policy, constant increasing of raw cotton production. They turn water flowing into the Aral Sea for irrigation.

Economy

Uzbekistan is one of the richest countries in Central Asia .

Two main branches of economy of the country: agriculture (35% of Gross Product where 39% of working people are engaged) ; natural resources (cotton, gas, oil; other main cultures are corn, vegetables and fruit).

Indicators of external trade of Uzbekistan considerably depend on international quotation on gold and cotton.

Country mainly imports equipment, production materials, chemicals.

Credit cards and way checks are accepted in the offices of the capital and big cities of Uzbekistan . Banks are open from 9:00 till 13:00 from Monday till Friday. You should have the money about you, dollars preferably.

National currency of Uzbekistan is Sum (UZS):

1Sum= about 0,000612 Euro

1Euro=about 1 631,41 Sum.

We advise you to take dollars about you( easier to exchange) or Euro.

Visa Card (international), Master Card, American Express are sometimes accepted in some souvenir shops and hotels. In Uzbekistan you should declare the money you have about you, keep your declaration until your departure. You can take the sum of money not bigger than that has been mentioned in your declaration while arriving.

It is better to exchange money in the morning as all exchange offices may have no money in the evening.

Banks are open from 9:00 till 13:00, from Monday till Friday.

Voltage is 220V, plugs as in France , no need in adapters.

Telephone

• From France to Uzbekistan : call 00+ 998+ city code(71: Tashkent) + number of your abonent.

• from Uzbekistan to France: call 8 + 10 +33 + number of your abonent ( without 0 before code of the region).

Internet is available in the hotel and everywhere in big cities.

Official Language

Uzbek is the official language

This dialect originated from ancient language called Chagatay.

Russian is spoken sometimes more often than Uzbek. It is spoken in central authorities.

Tadjik and Karakalpak are spoken on sights.

Moslem (Sunni) is the main religion in Uzbekistan (90%). Other religions: Orthodoxy (9%), Judaism, Catholicism and Baptist church. Officially the country is secular.

September ,1 : Independence Day (1991)

January,1: New Year

March,8: International Women's Day

March,21: Navruz. New Year

May,9: Victory Day

September,1: Independence Day

October,1 :Teacher's Day

December,8: Constitution Day

Service is included in hotels and restaurants but tips are given at your discretion. It is accepted to tip 10%, preferably in dollars.

Clothes: One should not wear too over-free clothes which may shock Moslem people.

Do not forget to take off shoes before entering the Mosque.

Ask for permission to take a picture of the natives.

You can find a good choice of spices and flavours, silk and surely carpets which are an indispensable part of every day life of the Uzbeks.

Uzbek cuisine was greatly influenced by Turkish cuisine. Dishes served with great amount of spices are of great importance except of different peculiarities of this cuisine.

National dish is called plov in Russian (osh in Uzbek). It is cooked from lamb and rice , vegetables (onion, carrot) and spices ( especially caraway, Uzbek zira).

Plov cooked from chicken and dried fruit is also popular. There are different kinds of plov depending on region, district and season.

Among other dishes you can find: shahlik or kebab, on small sticks from lamb, beef, chicken or liver of poultry. They are often served with fresh onion; manti, big meat dumplings, cooked on steam.

One should note that pork is prohibited.

Samarkand is popular with its bread. Bread in Central Asia (nan, non) is like disk, circle decorated in the centre at baker's discretion.

Finally, one can not live without fruit in Uzbekistan particularly in autumn and summer. There are a lot of them: grape, apricot, apples, pomegranate, which may be dried at the end of the season, and certainly water melons in summer.

One should drink refined or mineral water from bottles.

Tea is a national drink (green or black). There are so called tea-houses called Chayhana. Also white sweet vine, red and sparkling are at your disposal. Kefir, a kind of yogurt, is mainly drunk for breakfast. Vodka, beer and brandy are on sale everywhere.