# Chorsu Bazaar, Tashkent > Chorsu is Tashkent's oldest and best-known bazaar: a giant turquoise dome in the Old Town packed with spices, dried fruit, nuts, sweets and dairy, ringed by bread, meat, souvenir and clothing stalls. Entry is **free**, it's open every day from early morning to early evening, and mornings are best. Allow an hour to wander, two if you're shopping. Web page: https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/chorsu-bazaar - City: [Tashkent](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent), Uzbekistan - YesGo score: 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 1 h - With kids: Fine with kids - Entry: Free - Opening hours: Daily, early morning to evening; sources give 5:00–20:00 or 7:00–19:00 - Closed: No weekly closing day — open on Mondays too - Best time: 8:00–12:00: freshest produce, cooler air - Payment: Cash in Uzbek som; cards only at some larger stalls - Metro: Chorsu station, Oʻzbekiston line — exits by the bazaar - Address: Sakichmon Street, Olmazor district, Old Town - Time needed: ≈ 1 hour to look around, 2 with shopping - Coordinates: 41.32667, 69.23500 - Facts checked: 30.10.2026 ## Key facts - **Early 1990s** — the main dome was completed, designed by Vladimir Azimov and Sabir Adylov (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; ACDF (Art and Culture Development Foundation of Uzbekistan)) - **UNESCO** — since July 2026 the dome is part of the World Heritage site Tashkent Modernist Architecture (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; Advantour) - **≈ 80 m** — across — the main dome is the largest in Uzbekistan (source: Visit Tashkent; Russian Wikipedia (about 80 m)) - **“Four roads”** — the meaning of chorsu in Persian — a crossroads of the old city (source: English Wikipedia; ACDF; Orexca) - **7 smaller domes** — 10–15 m across, surround the main one (source: Russian Wikipedia; Orexca) - **Eski Juva** — the bazaar's other name; trading here goes back to the Middle Ages (source: WE Project; Russian Wikipedia) - **October Bazaar** — its name in Soviet times (source: Russian Wikipedia; WE Project) - **16th century** — Kukeldash Madrasah at the edge of the bazaar, built around 1569–1570 (source: English and Russian Wikipedia) - **Algeria, 1955** — a covered market in Sidi Bel Abbès was one model for the dome (source: ACDF, citing research by Boris Chukhovich) ## Chorsu Bazaar opening hours: is it open every day? Yes — Chorsu Bazaar is open **every day of the week**, Mondays included, with no weekly closing day. There is no official timetable, though: each hall and stall keeps its own hours. Unofficial listings put trading from about 5:00–7:00 until 18:00–20:00, and the market is at its liveliest between 8:00 and noon. The food hall under the dome wakes up first, as bread, meat and dairy arrive at dawn. Souvenir and clothing stalls outside start later, around 9:00. From about 17:00 many traders pack up, so late afternoon is the worst time to come for choice. On the first days of the big Eid holidays (Ramazon Hayit and Qurbon Hayit) some sections may stay shut, so keep a backup plan if your visit falls then. ## What to buy at Chorsu Bazaar - **Dried fruit and nuts** — apricots, raisins, dried melon, almonds, walnuts and salted apricot kernels. The best thing to take home. - **Spices** piled in cones under the dome — cumin, red pepper, barberries, saffron. Traders happily let you sniff and taste. - **Sweets** — navat (crystal sugar), parvarda, pashmak and halva. - **Dairy** — suzma, katyk and kurt, hard salty balls of dried sour milk. Taste kurt before you buy a bag: it's an acquired taste. - **Non (bread)** — round tandoor loaves stamped with a pattern in the middle, sold warm around the dome. - **The meat hall** with kazy, horse-meat sausage — not for everyone, but as local as it gets. - **Crafts** in the outer pavilions — skullcaps, chapan robes, ceramics, knives, kurpacha quilts and musical instruments. - **Street food** next door — plov, samsa, shashlik, norin and manti in small cafés. > **Bring cash in som — and mind your pockets** Chorsu runs on **cash in Uzbek som**. Withdraw som from a bank ATM in the centre and carry small notes — change for big ones can be a problem. In the crowds by the entrances, keep your phone and wallet zipped away. ## How to get to Chorsu Bazaar from Amir Timur Square 1. Go down into **Amir Temur Xiyoboni** metro station on the square. One fare covers the whole trip — see the [Tashkent Metro](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/tashkent-metro) page for tickets. 2. Ride the Chilonzor line two stops to **Paxtakor** and change to **Alisher Navoiy** on the Oʻzbekiston line. 3. Ride two stops towards Beruniy, through Gʻafur Gʻulom, to **Chorsu**. 4. Come up to street level — the turquoise dome is right there, a few minutes' walk to the main hall. About 20 minutes door to door. 5. Carry on on foot: the [Hazrati Imam complex](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/hazrati-imam) is about 1.5 km north, a 20-minute walk. ## Is Chorsu Bazaar worth visiting? Yes — it's the one place in Tashkent where the old Central Asian city still feels like everyday life rather than a museum. You don't need to buy anything: an hour under the dome, tasting dried apricots and watching bread come out of the tandoor, is a good morning in itself. It's less worth it in the late afternoon, when half the stalls are closing, and in the midsummer midday heat. If you've already done Siyob Bazaar in Samarkand, Chorsu is bigger and more urban, but the products are much the same. ## A short history of the dome Chorsu means “four roads” in Persian: routes from the four quarters of old Tashkent met here, and there has been a market on this spot since the Middle Ages. Locals also call it **Eski Juva**; in Soviet times it was the October Bazaar. The bazaar took its present form by the early 1990s. The main dome, by **Vladimir Azimov and Sabir Adylov**, is about 80 metres across and the largest in Uzbekistan, with seven smaller domes around it. Historian Boris Chukhovich traces the idea to a 1955 covered market in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria. In July 2026 the dome joined UNESCO's Tashkent Modernist Architecture listing, alongside nine other buildings including the [State Museum of Arts](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/tashkent-art-museum) and Kosmonavtlar metro station. > **Where to photograph the dome** For the full sweep of the dome, go up to the upper level inside the hall, or step back onto the square on the Kukeldash Madrasah side. Morning light is softer and the aisles emptier. Ask before taking close-ups of traders — most are fine with it, but it's polite to check. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] Going in the morning, before noon - [ ] Som in small notes - [ ] A bag for dried fruit and nuts - [ ] Phone and wallet in a zipped pocket - [ ] Water and a hat — it gets stuffy under the dome in summer - [ ] Lunch planned — plov by the bazaar ## Chorsu vs Hazrati Imam vs the Applied Arts Museum | | Chorsu Bazaar | Hazrati Imam | Applied Arts Museum | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | The Old Town's main bazaar | Religious complex of mosques and madrasahs | Ganch-carved mansion with crafts collection | | Entry | Free | Courtyard free | Paid | | Time needed | 1–2 h | ≈ 1 h | ≈ 1 h | | Best time | Morning | Daytime, outside prayer times | Daytime | | Souvenirs | Huge choice, haggling | A few | Courtyard stalls, from the makers | Chorsu and Hazrati Imam are neighbours — do them back to back in one morning. Visit the Applied Arts Museum first if you want to know what good craftsmanship looks like before you shop. ## Tashkent markets compared Every market in Tashkent rated by YesGo. - [Chorsu Bazaar](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/chorsu-bazaar) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free - [Plov Centre (Besh Qozon)](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/tashkent-plov-centre) — YesGo score 34/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Plov from 50,000 sum ## The Old Town in half a day The bazaar and plov in the morning, Hazrati Imam at midday, then the palace stations of the metro and an evening at the Navoi Theatre. YesGo fits in the timing and transfers. 1. [Chorsu Bazaar](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/chorsu-bazaar) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free 2. [Hazrati Imam Complex](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/hazrati-imam) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Free; Quran museum has a small fee 3. [Tashkent Metro](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/tashkent-metro) — YesGo score 50/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h · 2,500 som by card, 3,000 cash 4. [Navoi Theatre](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/navoi-theatre) — YesGo score 44/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · Shows from 77,000 som ## Good to know Samarkand and Bukhara both have trading domes called Chorsu too — this is Tashkent's food bazaar. The metro station and a hotel next door share the name, and the malls around the bazaar with similar names sell clothes and fabric rather than food. ## Tips - Start on the upper level under the dome: you'll see how the aisles are laid out before you dive in. - Haggle for dried fruit, spices and souvenirs; bread and meat usually have fixed prices. - Taste before you buy — dried-fruit and nut sellers will offer anyway. - Flying home with dried fruit? Ask for it to be packed tight, vacuum-sealed if they offer. - Want a quality souvenir? Look at the pieces in the [Applied Arts Museum](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/tashkent-applied-arts-museum) first — it makes handmade easier to tell from factory-made. - Heading to the mountains at [Chimgan](https://yesgo.io/uzbekistan/tashkent/chimgan)? Stock up on bread and apricots here first. ## Questions ### What are Chorsu Bazaar opening hours? It's open daily with no official timetable. Unofficially, trading runs from about 5:00–7:00 until 18:00–20:00. Go between 8:00 and noon. ### Is Chorsu Bazaar open on Monday? Yes. Chorsu has no weekly closing day. Some sections may close on the first days of the big Eid holidays. ### Is there an entry fee? No — entry is free. You only pay for what you buy, mostly in cash. ### Can I pay by card at Chorsu Bazaar? Only at some larger stalls. Bring Uzbek som in small notes from a bank ATM. ### How do I get to Chorsu Bazaar? Take the metro from Amir Temur Xiyoboni: two stops to Paxtakor, change to Alisher Navoiy, then two stops to Chorsu. About 20 minutes. ### What should I buy at Chorsu Bazaar? Dried fruit, nuts, spices, navat and halva, fresh non bread, skullcaps, ceramics and knives. ### Should I haggle at Chorsu? Yes for dried fruit, spices and souvenirs. Bread and meat prices are usually fixed. ### How long do you need at Chorsu Bazaar? About an hour to look around under the dome; two hours with shopping and lunch. ### Is Chorsu Bazaar safe? Yes, it's a busy everyday market. Just keep valuables zipped away in the crowds by the entrances. ## How we checked The bazaar has no official website or published timetable, so hours are marked as checking: Sputnik8 gives 9:00–18:00 and 7:00–19:00, Kupi.com 5:00 to 20:15–21:00, Outlook Traveller about 5:00–21:00. All agree it is open daily; none mentions a Monday closing. Dome size differs between sources — Visit Tashkent and Russian Wikipedia say about 80 m, one summary gives 86 m and Advantour 300–350 m (clearly an error) — so we say about 80 m. Dates differ too: Orexca says the 1970s, while Wikipedia and ACDF describe a 1980s design completed in the early 1990s; we follow the latter. Card acceptance can't be confirmed officially and is unofficial. ## Sources - English and Russian Wikipedia: Chorsu Bazaar; Wikidata Q13409233 - ACDF (Art and Culture Development Foundation of Uzbekistan): Chorsu and Boris Chukhovich's research, 2025 - Visit Tashkent: Chorsu Bazaar - Orexca: Chorsu Bazaar, Tashkent - WE Project: five famous bazaars of Tashkent, 2026 - Advantour: Chorsu Bazaar, Tashkent - Sputnik8: Chorsu Bazaar — hours and entry - English and Russian Wikipedia: Kukeldash Madrasah (Tashkent) - OpenStreetMap: Chorsu Bazaar and Chorsu metro station, 30.10.2026 --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.