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Border opening between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: Travel made easy!
Experience the challenges and memories of a 2011 summer trip through Central Asia, from Samarkand to Dushanbe.
Border opening between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: Travel made easy!
In June 2025, many travelers remember their experiences on the border between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The border, which stretches for around 1,300 kilometers, was closed to traffic at several crossings for over seven years, with the crossing in Panjakent particularly notable. This connected the Uzbek city of Samarkand with the Tajik capital Dushanbe and was reopened on March 1, 2018 after being closed on November 1, 2010. Before the reopening, travelers had to use the far-fetched border crossing at Denau, which meant traveling twice the distance to get into the other country.
A particularly impressive journey took place in the summer of 2011, when a traveler set off from Samarkand towards the Panjakent border crossing. The adventure began in a minibus, and the anticipation of entering Tajikistan was quickly dampened by the driver's announcement: “Granitsa zakryto, closed” – the border was closed. The return trip to Samarkand was necessary in order to be able to continue the journey using shared taxis. This return trip involved a circuitous 350-kilometer detour and required an eight-hour drive due to the lack of comforts - such as air conditioning.
Waiting at the border
In the evening the route finally led to an open border crossing with trucks from Iran. Tajik market women were already waiting here while the travelers were asked to undergo passport and registration checks. Registration in Uzbekistan required detailed documentation for each overnight stay, highlighting the bureaucratic hassle involved in crossing the border. However, the border officials on the Tajik side were calm. One of them told the travelers to hurry up and made jokes at the same time, which lightened the situation.
A shared photo with a border official and a humorous farewell rounded off this experience. The positive memories continued until July 7, 2011, where the traveler enjoyed a cold beer in Dushanbe, which pleasantly rounded off the stressful day. These experiences are part of the story at the border crossing in Panjakent, which now once again represents an important connection between two countries that have maintained an intensive exchange over the years.
The developments on this border show how important such transport routes are for exchange between nations and what challenges travelers have had to overcome in the past to discover new cultures.
For more information about the opening of the border between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, read the article on explorer-magazin.com. You can find out more about travel experiences in the region at spiegel.de.