Andijan



Andijan is a city in the Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan.

Understand
The Andijan Region is on the eastern edge of Uzbekistan, but the city is about an hour away from the land border with Kyrgyzstan - Do’stlik. Very roughly speaking, the city is divided in half by the train line which runs parallel to Muqimiy Road and cuts diagonally across the city. The northern part is usually referred to as Eski Shahar (“Old City”), and the southern part is typically thought of as Yangi Bozor (“New Market”). Yangi Bozor also includes the Mikrorayons (“Micro Regions/Districts”) which are numbered neighborhoods made up primarily of apartment buildings where the former Russian influence in the city is still most felt.

By taxi
Most taxis to other other cities will depart from a large parking lot near the Yangi Bozor area that is referred to locally as the "Avtovokzal". Groups of taxi drivers going to the same city will stand in one area calling out for passengers. There are also buses and "Damas" minibuses travelling between cities at cheaper prices, but they might not have storage room for luggage. Drivers will usually drop you off at whatever spot you ask them to in the destination city. The average rates to different destinations are listed below. Note that the exact price might depend on the specific seat and also the time of day:
 * To/From Tashkent - 85,000-120,000 som (June 2021);
 * To/From Fergana - 30,000-40,000 som (June 2021);
 * To/From Kokand - 40,000-50,000 som (Oct 2019);
 * To/From Margilan - 40,000-50,000 som (Jan 2022).

By plane


Uzbekistan Airways operates flights from
 * Krasnoyarsk
 * Moscow Domodedovo International Airport
 * Novosibirsk
 * Tashkent

By train

 * - The train station is in the center of the town.

There is now a train service connecting Andijan with Tashkent, avoiding Tajikistan. The station offers service to Tashkent 2-3 times a day. Some of the trains have seating compartments while others have sleeper compartments. There is also an Andijan-Khiva train several times a week. The average price of an economy class ticket to Tashkent is 70,000-90,000 som and the ride takes 5-6 hours.

There is also a special intra-valley train that runs between Andijan and Kokand 1-2 times a day and costs only 8,000 som. At the time of writing (Jan 2022) you can only buy tickets for this type of train at the ticket office (kassa).

By bus


The bus station is not far from the train station. You can get to Andijan from any other city of Ferghana Valley by taxies or minibuses. Most of these bus lines run fairly regularly from around 07:00 until 17:00, though they sometimes run a bit later. If you miss the last bus you may end up having to take a much more expensive taxi.
 * To/From Fergana - 12,000 som on a large bus (Jan 2022);
 * To/From Margilan - 10,000 som on a mini-bus (Jan 2022);
 * To/from Osh - 15,000 som (5.2024, se go next)
 * To/from Namangam - 15,000 som (5.2024)

Travelling within the Andijan region
In Andijan there are several areas where Damases and shared taxis gather in order to take you to some of the smaller districts in Andijan. The main ones are:



Do
Andijan has many karaoke venues, an ice skating rink, roller blade clubs, and amusement parks for children.

Coffee
Coffee culture used to be non-existent in Andijan, with most places sufficing to serve 3-in-1 coffee. Nowadays however a budding coffee scene has taken hold and there are a number of places where you can get real coffee, primarily in the microdistricts.



Nightlife and Alcohol
Despite Andijan's reputation as a conservative city, and some travel vloggers' claims that it's impossible to find alcohol in the city, it is actually fairly easy to find stores which sell liquor (especially in the microdistricts) and there are several clubs in the city as well as restaurants which sell alcohol.

Bars and Watering Holes
Andijan doesn't have any traditional pubs where individuals can come and sit on stools and socialize with strangers. Instead, most places which offer alcohol are restaurants/clubs designed to cater to groups of people sitting at large tables. Additionally, places which do offer draft beer will usually only have one or two types available. Still, there is at least one relatively new place (Jiguli Bar) which is trying to introduce a new genre of social drinking, and there are a myriad of establishments which offer cheap drinks along with a very narrow food menu geared towards local pockets. These kinds of places where the main draw is the alcohol and the food itself are probably best thought of as "watering holes" (in some cases these places are called разливайка - razlivaykas.)



Stay safe
Andijan was the site of what many have termed a massacre in May 2005. The story is complicated, but in brief, an armed raid on a local prison, followed by the occupation of a government building where local government officials were held hostage, led to a gathering of several thousand people in the town square. At some point, firing began and the end result was the death of what most believe to be hundreds of innocents, shot down by government troops. The official government version of these events was that the entire event was triggered by Islamic extremists and that only 187 people died - virtually all "extremists", government officials and troops. Eyewitnesses to the tragedy, however, (and there are many who fled the country and have been granted asylum in various countries) say that hundreds of innocent citizens, including women and children, were gunned down in the streets as they tried to flee.

Much of what took place at that time in Andijan may never be fully known. The government of Uzbekistan has refused demands from the West for an impartial investigation and has intimated that the "extremists" who triggered the event were financed by the West.

Andijan is accessible for tourists as any other place in Ferghana Valley. The only special precautions would be not discussing the events of 2005 and respecting the religion, as Ferghana Valley, especially Andijan, is Islamic. Dressing should be modest.

Go next

 * Osh (Kyrgyzstan) 70 km away through the Do'stlik/Dostyk border crossing. Public transport and shared taxis available on both sides. There are two options. Bus to the border and a bus which go across the border, it depends on you if you wish to wait in the border checkpoints. The bus to Do'stlik leaves from the main Avtovokzal every 20 minutes between 07:00-19:00 and costs 5,000 som per seat. When you have passed the passport control, from the Kyrgyz side you can take a marshrutka (minivan) which waits for passengers just after the border gates on the right side. Avoid taxi drivers who try to mob you, unless you're up for lengthy haggling. From Andijan the taxis to the border leave from Yangi Bozor near the restaurant "Sultan Ahmet" and cost 20,000 per seat. The other ortion is a bus 777 (starting at Andijan Center bus stop, platform 1, buy the ticket before in the ticketing window, 15000 in 2024) which go with you across the both borders. On the Uzbek side, they open one border checkpoint just for the bus; on the Kyrgyz side, you need to be really quick if you want to drive to the new Osh bus terminal, because the driver does not wait. Close to the bus terminal are many exchanges with fair rates from dollars to Uzbek som and one hidden ATM in a shop which accepts just Visa (better to bring the Uzbek som with you and exchange, as the rates are really fair). From new station, trolley no. 2 can take you to the city centre for 10 Kyrgyz som, where all three mobile network providers have shops at Aravanskiy Station.