Penjikent, a town next to the border, 70km from
Samarkand,
Uzbekistan, with ruins of an ancient city.
Climate
Midlatitude continental, hot summers, mild winters;
semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains
Get in
By car
Private cars and minivans run between
Samarkand in
Uzbekistan and Penjikent daily. From Osh in
Kyrgyzstan minivans go to Murgab every few days for
$15; hitch hiking on Kamaz trucks and ZIL petrol tankers
is also possible anywhere enroute for $10.
By plane
There are flights from Moscow's Domodedovo airport to
Dushanbe on Tajikistan Airlines, Domodedovo Airlines,
and Samara Airlines. Tajikistan Airways flies
Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kabul, Bishkek, Almaty,
Sharjah and Istanbul. In the past, they have also flown
to Urumchi and New Delhi. Turkish Airlines operates a
popular twice-weekly flight to Istanbul (arrives in
Dushanbe Monday and Thursday in the very early morning).
By bus
By boat
There is currently a ferry operating across the Pyanj
river between Afghanistan and Tajikistan that costs
roughly $10 one way. However, the opening of the U.S.
funding bridge over the Pyanj will likely end this
service, which crosses roughly three times per day and
does not run on Sundays.
By train
The train to Moscow is popular with migrant workers.
It crosses through Uzbekistan (twice) and Turkmenistan
and takes around five days. Transit visas are required
for all countries.
