While relations with Uzbekistan are the best among Tajikistan's neighbors, it is the most crossed by travellers and the roads to these crossings are in much better condition than those leading to Kyrgyzstan or Afghanistan. The current situation (June 2010) is unknown, but in recent years Tajik vehicles have not been allowed into Uzbekistan and Uzbek vehicles needed to pay large tariffs to enter Tajikistan. So your trip may require taking one vehicle to the border and catching a ride on another after crossing the border. The journey from Tashkent to Khujand takes about two and a half hours and is frequently travelled by private cars and marshrutkas (minibuses) which will take you along for a small amount (under $US10). The short (60km) trip from Samarkand, Uzbekistan to Penjikent is also frequently travelled by private cars and marshrutkas. In winter months, snow blocks the passes connecting Dushanbe with the north of Tajikistan. To travel to Dushanbe during these months, you need to head south and cross from Termez, which will take you around the west & south sides of the mountains and take you to Dushanbe.
From Kyrgyzstan, there are a couple of options, mostly from Osh and none make for a very smooth journey. The rugged, remote Pamir Highway (see next paragraph) is the slowest, but most popular. From the crossroads at Sary-Tash, a road leads west for 500km through the Karategin Valley to Dushanbe. A little rugged near the border, but not nearly so as the Pamir Highway. A third option is from the Batken region to Isfara, but it passes through several of the Uzbek enclaves within Kyrgyzstan, necessitating a multiple-entry Uzbek visa and plenty of time for border crossings; bypassing these enclaves is a pain and requires navigating lots of poor, local roads with little or no signage. Travelling through the Ferghana Valley, it also has the least interesting scenery and recent ethnic confrontations in the region make this a poor choice for travellers.
A scenic, albeit rough, journey into Tajikistan is via the Pamir Highway which runs from Osh to Khorog to Dushanbe. Just about the only highway in the GBAO region, this route ranges from smooth tarmac full of busses, trucks to a single-lane road carved into a cliff. The border crossing lies at 4280m and peaks at the Ak-Baital Pass at 4,655m. The journey takes 2-3 days from Osh-Khorog and three on the rougher stretch from Khorog to Dushanbe, longer if you want to stop and enjoy the scenery. Minivans travel the route from Osh to Murghab every few days for $US15; hitch hiking on Kamaz trucks and ZIL petrol tankers is also possible anywhere enroute for $US10. A 4 wheel drive is necessary and large portions of the highway are impassible in winter and frequently blocked by mudslides in spring.
The US has funded a couple of bridges connecting Tajikistan with Afghanistan. Roads from Qurghonteppa, Kulob, & Dushanbe lead to the main crossing at Nizhnii Panj. From there, a road leads south to Kunduz which unfortunately, as of 2010, is a stronghold of the Taliban in the north of Afghanistan. There is a bridge at Khorog leading to Feizabad, Afghanistan as well as a few mountainous roads elsewhere in the GBAO leading to Afghanistan.
A border crossing with China was opened in 2004. The crossing and connecting roads link the Pamir Highway with the the Karakorum Highway and provides a link to Kashgar (Kashi) to the north and Pakistan to the south. As of 2010, it remains closed to foreigners.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Tajikistan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Tajikistan - updated Apr 2024
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Tajikistan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
