This morning, I followed rail1983’s tips:

• Took bus #45 from downtown Tashkent to Food City (stay on the bus until the market parking lot, even though most passengers get off earlier).
• Managed to catch the departing bus #251 to Bekabad. Fare: 18,000 UZS. The entire ride took 1.5 hours.

Border crossing:
Took about 20 minutes, including the walk across no-man’s land.

Post-border experience:
On the Tajik side, there’s a decent currency exchange booth within the checkpoint. Taxis quoted 50–60 TJS to Khujand, but I haggled down to 30 TJS for a ride straight to Panjshanbe, the city center. The taxi filled up quickly, so there wasn’t much waiting around.

In summary, left my hotel at 8:30 AM and was enjoying lunch in Panjshanbe by 1:30 PM.

Tashkent to Khujand

• From Tashkent’s Food City Market, bus #251 runs to Bekabad (operating 5:55 AM – 6:00 PM, every hour). Fare: 18,000 UZS to the Oybek border.
• To get to Food City, city buses are a convenient option, and Yandex Maps is a lifesaver for planning routes. Fare: 2,000 UZS.

Once at the border, I bypassed the taxi drivers and hitchhiked to Buston for 10 TJS. From Buston, I took a shared van for 13 TJS to Khujand’s Rohi Abreshim station. At Rohi Abreshim, there’s a hostel-like lodging with beds priced at 20–60 TJS. Exchange offices are available at the station, including ruble exchanges.

Khujand to Tashkent

On the return, I took a shared van from Rohi Abreshim to Buston for 13 TJS. In Buston, taxis to Oybek operate from a separate area (locals can guide you). Fare: 10 TJS.

After crossing the border, I avoided taxis again and hitchhiked to Tashkent for 25,000 UZS.

Shared vans to the Oybek border don’t leave from the station itself but from a small bridge right outside the exit. Fare: 50 TJS, departing once full.

Border crossing:
Queues can be slow, mainly due to disorganized processing and families with kids holding various passports.

On the Uzbek side, there’s a market. No official exchange offices were visible, but informal money changers are abundant.

Post-border tip: Ignore the aggressive taxi drivers quoting 250,000 UZS for a ride. Instead, walk 200–300 meters to the Bekabad-Tashkent highway stop. From there:

• Take a shared van to Buka (waited only 5 minutes; fare: 15,000 UZS).
• In Buka, transfer to a van heading to Kuylyuk Metro Station in Tashkent. Fare: 10,000 UZS.

Tashkent to Khujand

1. Taxis to the Oybek border can be found at the Kuylyuk Market under the large bridge. Price: 50,000 UZS per seat.
2. After crossing the border, taxis are available to take you to a spot in Khujand called Rohi Abreshim. Price: 50 TJS.

Start time: 11:00 AM
Travel time: 4 hours (30 minutes waiting at Kuylyuk for the taxi to fill up). The border crossing was smooth with minimal queues, taking about 10 minutes.

Khujand to Tashkent

1. From Rohi Abreshim in Khujand, taxis head to the Oybek border. Price: 50 TJS.
2. Post-border, Uzbek taxis haggle fiercely. They refused to go below 50,000 UZS and eventually settled for 70,000 UZS to Kuylyuk Market.

Note: Spent an hour waiting for the taxi to fill up, but in the end, I opted for a solo ride for 150,000 UZS, which dropped me directly at home.

Start time: 10:00 AM
Travel time: 5 hours.
Minimal queues at the border, crossing time was around 10 minutes.