In this post we share our experience Renting a car and driving in Uzbekistan. Helle and Peter went in April 2025. You’ll find our itinerary here.
We really enjoyed having our own vehicle, as we could go to parts of the country that would be difficult to access by public transport, especially places like the Nuratau Mountains and Lake Aydar.
The main challenge we encountered was understanding the speed limits. It’s pretty straightforward: 60 km/h in cities and 100 km/h outside cities. But here’s the catch: road signs indicating these limits are not always easy to find. Plus, there’s the added difficulty of not always knowing if you’re in a village or on the outskirts of one, where the speed limit may change. It’s a bit of a guessing game!
The many speed cameras makes it more important to know the speed limit. The cameras are scattered across the country. We were doing our best to avoid speeding, but considered it very unlikely that we would avoid tickets.
Traffic may appear chaotic, but we found it surprisingly manageable. Drivers are courteous, and people seem to give each other space. We never felt like there was dangerous speeding or aggressive driving on the roads. For longer stretches of driving, we took turns behind the wheel, which made the journey more enjoyable and less exhausting.
As for the roads, they are quite good between major towns—smooth and easy to navigate. But as you venture into more remote areas, like around Aydar Kol and the Nuratau, the roads become a lot rougher. We even drove on a stretch of loose sand north of lake Aydar, which was an unexpected challenge but also an adventure.
We used Google Maps throughout the trip, and it worked wonderfully. In terms of fuel, there are plenty of petrol stations along the main routes. Interestingly, many vehicles seem to run on propane or methane, and we noticed many stations offering LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
In terms of police presence, we were never stopped during our drive. We were told by locals that police generally don’t hassle drivers.
Our rental experience was smooth overall. We booked through Sixt, and the service was excellent. Our rental agent met us at 5:00 AM at the Samarkand airport arrivals hall, and after signing a fair amount of paperwork (all in Uzbek), we were handed the keys. We had originally booked a Kia Seltos, but were upgraded to a near-new Kia Sportage. The car was in excellent condition and a pleasure to drive.
We returned the car at 04:00 at the airport. A week after returning home, we got a message from Sixt that confirmed that we had received no tickets, and our full deposit was returned.
HOw much was the car?
Hi Alex,
We paid approx 3500 for the car rental
Hello Peter. May I ask about your parking experience as you traveled, particularly in Samarkand and Buhkara. My wife is disabled, and though she can walk a bit, it will be a challenge. Ample/easy parking makes everything better.
Hi Eric!
In both cities, we parked near our hotel which were at the edge of the historic center. From there we walked between the points of interest. This is relatively easy in Bukhara. Here, much of the town centre is a pedestrian zone, and the sites are fairly close to each other. You could probably move between sites in a car as well. There is free street parking, but not lots of it.
In Samarkand the sites are spread out over a larger area. You would want to drive between sites, and with some patience it should be possible to find parking.
Happy travels!