Everyone knows it’s not easy to get into Turkmenistan. Ok, a lot of people probably haven’t heard of Turkmenistan. But once you do, you mainly hear how hard it is to visit. Independent travel is not allowed in Turkmenistan – there is no showing up and just winging it. Think more along the lines of North Korea and you’ve got the idea. To get a visa you need visa support and that means booking everything ahead through a tour operator – accommodation, transportation, and an itinerary listing every place you’ll go and every thing you’ll do. And even applications meeting the full criteria can be arbitrarily denied.
Most tour operators run organized tours on set dates. However, if you want something more extensive or a bespoke tour just for yourself and your travel mate(s), and you don’t happen to already know everything there is to know about Turkmenistan, then you might find yourself facing a fair bit of research. That’s what we found, anyway, and we were already on the road at the time so it took a while to figure out exactly what we wanted to see and do, and how to do it. Which is why we’re writing it up now – to save you some trouble.
This post is the nine day itinerary we eventually hammered out with our tour operator’s input and a lot of research. It’s about how we arrived at this plan, what we liked the most, and things we’d change in retrospect. Feel free to copy this itinerary directly and shop it around to your top three or four tour operators and see what they can do. Or borrow a few of the days you like best and use it as a base to kick off your own plans.
Organizing a tour
On the road – our itinerary
What we loved, and some things we’d do differently
Other essentials
If you like bizarre and unusual destinations Turkmenistan’s got a lot to offer. In case you’re wondering what you’ll find along the way, I’ve written another post about the very best of what we saw and did. Check it out here: Travel in Turkmenistan: from a city of marble to the Gates of Hell
Organizing a tour
Independent travel is not allowed in Turkmenistan. The transit visa option is off the table at the moment. Right now, the entire time you’re there you’re under the mandatory supervision of a guide or driver, or both.
When we decided we wanted to go to Turkmenistan, we knew we wanted to see more than just the Gates of Hell and some white marble buildings in Ashgabat. A lot of people do exactly that, in a three-day turnaround. Most, or probably all, tour operators offer this as basically the default. If you want a quick trip to see these highlights and maybe tack on a Silk Road ruin or two, it’s as easy as picking a tour operator and browsing their pre-packaged options. It’s true that the shorter and more standardized your trip, the less it will cost. You can also sign onto group tours for that reason.
Bespoke tours and getting the visa
We wanted a private tour for just us. We wanted to choose our own dates and to see most of the country since we most likely are not returning any time soon.
For this, you’ll need to decide your entry and exit points (land borders or the airport) and dates in advance, and the plan for each and every day. Start planning in advance! It’s kind of boring but necessary: you need to work out your itinerary, choose your tour operator, and submit all the details for the visa application process at least a month ahead of time, in order to actually get the visa by the date you’ve set. The visa application process took four weeks in late November/December. Expect a few more weeks’ processing time in peak months.
When you have your itinerary down, send it to three or four companies and get their quotes back.
After you’ve chosen a quote, you’ll need to pay your deposit and send documentation like passport scans, photos, and so on. The tour operator will take it from there, booking everything and getting your visa application process going. So you are at their mercy when it comes to hotels, drivers and most importantly the guide.
Free-spirited? Forget it
Once your tour operator has submitted the itinerary and your passport details etc. to the Ministry of Culture, there’s no going back. You’ll get the visa (or not) and everything is (almost) set in stone. If you planned to enter or exit by land, you can’t change your mind later on and enter or exit at a different border than you originally picked (and are now approved for). But you can change from a land border entry or exit, to a flight to or from Ashgabat airport, instead.
Arriving by air
If you’re flying in to Turkmenistan, you’re going to need a flight. But first, you’ll want to wait and make sure your visa is approved. If you submit your documentation and get your visa last minute as we did, and you’ll need to book the flight on a dime, to make your tour start date. If you prefer booking flights early, then submit your visa application early.
Is Covid still a thing…?
Possibly, but not really.
At the time we were traveling – December 2023 – Turkmenistan still had mandatory Covid testing at the border. They may or may not do that still. It’s only a rapid test and they barely touch the tip of your nose so it seemed to be a formality.
Guides
It’s not strictly necessary to have a guide, just a driver will do. We opted for the guide anyway hoping to get more in-depth knowledge of Turkmenistan plus a translator when necessary. A guide is also more likely to be less restrictive about letting you roam freely around whenever that’s possible, whereas a driver is more likely to act like a minder and follow the rules to the letter.
When to go
It gets really hot in Turkmenistan in the summer (June-August). The most popular times to go are from March to May and September to November. We went in late November into December and daytime temperatures were just fine (fifteen to twenty degrees Celsius). It was sunny and bright and in fact, the weather was not an issue in the slightest.
Costs
The tour cost should include your transportation, driver, guide (if you want one), accommodation, and breakfasts. The rest of your meals, entry tickets, personal expenses, tips, the visa itself, and arrival tax aren’t included.
You need very little spending money in Turkmenistan. Most of our meals cost between ten and fifteen USD for two people. And were pretty fine. Lots of Turkish food. Entry to sites was almost negligible, like two to six USD for two.
On the road – our itinerary
We mainly traveled around by car but also used night trains and a domestic flight to cover some longer distances.
DAY 1 – Ashgabat / city tour by day and night / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 2 – Drive from Ashgabat to Nokhur / night train to Turkmenbashy
DAY 3 – Daytrip to Yangykala canyon / flight to Ashgabat / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 4 – Morning freetime in Ashgabat / daytrip to Darvaza – Gates of Hell / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 5 – Half-day in Ashgabat / train to Mary / hotel in Mary
DAY 6 – Morning free time in Mary / daytrip to Merv / night train to Kerki
DAY 7 – Driving to Koytendag / sightseeing, free time in Koytendag / lodge in Koytendag
DAY 8 – Dinosaur plateau, goat massage / lodge in Koytendag
DAY 9 – Driving to Turkmenabat / drop-off at Farap border to Uzbekistan
DAY 1 – Ashgabat / city tour by day and night / hotel in Ashgabat
We arrived the night before and got picked up by the first of five drivers we would be acquainted with during our Turkmenistan tour. We stayed at Ak-Altyn hotel in the older Soviet part of town. The hotel was fine with an old Soviet feel to it. Also overpriced but budget accommodation isn’t really a thing there.
After a few hours of sleep the guide and driver picked us up for our daytime tour around the city.
At night Ashgabat is lit up like a circus (circuses were banned there under the first President, as a matter of fact). We went for a night drive to see this extravaganza and were dropped of at Yyldyz Hotel for dinner at Turkmenistan’s most elaborate restaurant which was empty apart from us and one other table. It’s ‘expensive’ by Turkmenistan standards, so in other words not expensive at all, and pretty good. They have Georgian wine and brace yourself, they have partially unrestricted internet so bring your phone, you might be able to get onto Instagram there.
Accommodation: Ak-Altyn hotel
DAY 2 – Drive from Ashgabat to Nokhur / night train to Turkmenbashy
It’s a one and a half hour driver from Ashgabat to Nisa, where you have some Parthian ruins. This site is very close to Ashgabat so it almost definitely is going to crop up on every itinerary. It’s worth a visit with a guide. If you don’t have a guide with you see if the the tour operator can arrange a guide to meet you at Nisa. Without a guide, it will look like a pile of dirt and you can see the exact same kind of thing in Kazakhstan (around Turkestan area for example) – by yourself and for a lot less trouble. We had our guide with us, and he made it interesting.
After Nisa we continued to Kow-Alta, an underground sulfurous lake deep inside a cave. Bring your swimsuit. There are yurts here topside, where you can eat some shaslik (assuming you aren’t coming from somewhere else in Central Asia and already sick to death of shaslik).
We carried on to Nokhur, a small village. There is nothing here, they have some interesting cemeteries and that’s about it. However, we were using Nokhur as a stopover to eat and then catch a night train from the nearby town of Arcman to Turkmenbashy, so it worked in that respect.
If you don’t want to go all the way out east to Turkmenbashy, you can easily combine the sights above on a daytrip from Ashgabat instead.
Time: 7 hours
Kilometers: 250
Accommodation: Night train to Turkmenbashy (7pm to 8am)
DAY 3 – Daytrip to Yangykala canyon / flight to Ashgabat / hotel in Ashgabat
We ate breakfast at Arabica cafe in Turkmenbashy and then picked up snacks in the bazaar. Then we set off to Yangykala canyon. For the time being the government has closed Awaza to foreign tourists, possibly due to too much mocking by Youtubers/Instagrammers. The canyon is beautiful but keep in mind, it’s a long driving day – think five or six hours. We brought lunch and tea.
At night we flew from Turkmenbashy back to Ashgabat.
Time: 9 hours
Kilometers: 340 (Turkmenbashy to Yangykala)
Accommodation: Ak-Altyn
DAY 4 – Morning free time in Ashgabat / daytrip to Darvaza – Gates of Hell / hotel in Ashgabat
We had the morning free to explore Ashgabat on our own. You don’t get a lot of time to yourself in Turkmenistan so enjoy it. We ate lunch at Sha Coffee which is a good cafe.
The guide and driver picked us up and we drove around three hours to Darvaza – the Gates of Hell. If you can time your visit to see the crater in both daylight and in the dark, do it. You can stay overnight in the yurt camp there, but we opted to drive back to Ashgabat.
Time: 9 hours
Kilometers: 555
Accommodation: Ak-Altyn hotel
DAY 5 – Half-day in Ashgabat / train to Mary / hotel in Mary
We spent another free morning in Ashgabat going to the bookstore and walking around the deserted streets. In the afternoon we boarded the train to Mary. Train travel in Turkmenistan is very comfortable. We had 4-bed compartments which we mostly only shared with our guide.
Time: 7 hours
Kilometers: 375
Accommodation: Margush hotel
DAY 6 – Morning free time in Mary / daytrip to Merv / night train to Kerki
We had some free time in Mary on our own, as well, and spent it walking to the main bazaar and trying to avoid being blinded by a marble mosque, the theater and other governmental buildings on the way. There’s good coffee at Aladdin cafe and also – WiFi:) Restricted though.
After lunch we explored Merv for the rest of the day. At night we boarded a train for Kerki.
Time: 9 hours
Kilometers: 450
Accommodation: Night train to Kerki (9pm to 6am)
DAY 7 – Driving to Koytendag / sightseeing, free time in Koytendag / lodge in Koytendag
And then there’s Koytendag, or Turkmenistan in a microcosm. This is a seriously remote part of the country, near to the borders with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and you get a little bit of everything that makes Turkmenistan so very Turkmenish. Very few tourists go out this way because it’s pretty far.
On our way to Koyten village we made a stop at Kaynar-baba lake to feed the fish. You can swim there as well (it was December though, so we did not). Our guide also let us loose to stroll around the outskirts of the village, once we reached the lodge.
Time: 4 hours
Kilometers: 175
Accommodation: Koyten guest house
DAY 8 – Dinosaur plateau, goat massage / lodge in Koytendag
We spent the next day exploring the Koyten region. Here you’ve got the Dinosaur plateau – dinosaur footprints, preserved in the rock – and some caves, and the Umbar-dere gorge. In addition to being remote, and rugged, it’s beautiful. It’s interesting, and the Dinosaur plateau is awesome.
We were also insanely lucky enough to catch a local game of Buzkashi, aka Dead Goat Polo. We just stumbled on a match in the desert. Yes, that’s right. Dozens of men on horseback galloping towards us at full-speed, fighting amongst themselves over the carcass of a goat. It’s a thing.
And, in the village there’s an old couple who have trained up their goats as massage therapists. Sort of. It’s worth a stop as it’s definitely a quirky, funny sight.
Accommodation: Koyten guest house
DAY 9 – Driving to Turkmenabat / drop-off at Farap border to Uzbekistan
There’s no spontaneity here when it comes to your exit date. You get out on the exact day your visa says you’re going, at the border you specified on your itinerary. We’d picked the Farap border to Uzbekistan, a day’s drive from Koytendag.
The border crossing is straight forward. Your guide/driver will drop you off at the gate. From there you take a minivan to immigration and get yourself stamped out. Then you can either walk or pick up another ride to the Uzbek side. Once you’re through, on the Uzbek side it’s an hour and a half in a taxi/sharetaxi to Bukhara.
Time: 7 hours
Kilometers: 420
What we loved, and things we’d do differently
We were really happy with our tour, and especially with the amount of time we spent in Turkmenistan. We didn’t feel rushed, and the tour went off smoothly without a hitch. But there’s always room for improvement, and we did find a couple of things we’d drop.
What we loved
First, the stuff we loved.
One word: Koytendag. The Dinosaur plateau is amazing and the surrounding landscape is beautiful. To top it off you can even have a goat massage:) It’s far away from everything and takes time – you might need to tack on an extra day or two to get out there, but for us it was the highlight of our Turkmenistan tour. If time were an issue we’d say drop Turkmenbashy and Yangykala canyon to prioritize Koytendag.
Yyldyz hotel restaurant. It’s not the world’s best restaurant but it’s the best in the country, and in Turkmenistan, that means best in the world. Really, it’s pretty good food, great value, and you have a cool view of (mostly deserted) Ashgabat down below to marvel at while you congratulate yourself on just being in Turkmenistan.
Nisa and Merv. Go to them both or choose one or two max, of Nisa, Merv, and Konye-Urgench. Whichever you choose, get a guide. We went to both Nisa and Merv, and really enjoyed both – this was down to our guide, he was good!
Darvaza – Gates of Hell. Unoriginal, but it is the country’s big draw. Try to see it during daylight and at night. It’s actually not so much the sight itself that is impressive as that the story behind it is just so bizarre.
Free time in Ashgabat. It’s good to have an organized tour of the city so you can learn about it, but try to fit in some free time too, since it’s one of the few places you can wander unsupervised.
Things we’d do differently
And, some things we’d drop.
Homestay dinner in Nokur. Our tour operator sold us on dinner at a homestay in Nokur, which was a total waste. In our experience with homestays in Central Asia, you actually eat dinner with a family in their home. In this case we were served a meal by ourselves in a house which was clearly not anybody’s home. Considering you can eat pretty decent food out for a few dollars, paying 15 USD each for some soup and rice in a sterile empty room, is pointless. There is a restaurant just outside Nokhur, some kind of Wedding Palace I’d call it – see if you can eat there or just bring something with you.
Yangykala canyon. The drive from Turkmenbashy to Yangykala canyon and back is five to six hours long. In our opinion, this was not worth it. The canyon is hugely impressive but a train to Turkmenbashy and then a six hour drive just to look at a landscape, was too much. In retrospect we’d drop this day entirely from the itinerary. If Awaza reopened to foreigners and you could stay there for the night, we’d definitely consider adding it back in. Otherwise, you could ask your tour operator about camping at the canyon if you are determined to go.
So, if we were to drop the things we didn’t love, the itinerary might look like this:
DAY 1 – Ashgabat / city tour by day and night / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 2 – Daytrip from Ashgabat / Nisa, Kow-Alta and Nokhur / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 3 – Morning free time in Ashgabat / daytrip to Darvaza – Gates of Hell / hotel in Ashgabat
DAY 4 – Morning flight from Ashgabat to Mary / daytrip to Merv / night train to Kerki
DAY 5 – Driving to Koytendag / sightseeing, free time in Koytendag / lodge in Koytendag
DAY 6 – Dinosaur plateau, goat massage / lodge in Koytendag
DAY 7 – Driving to Turkmenabat / drop-off at Farap border to Uzbekistan
This alternate itinerary means a bit less driving around and train travel. And, it makes the tour a little shorter (and a bit cheaper, yay!).
Other essentials
- Bring USD for your costs in the country. Make sure the notes are newer series, and pristine. Your bank and credit cards are no good in Turkmenistan. Your guide/tour operator will help with changing money for good rates. The black market is highly illegal.
- Bring extra cash for your visa which you’ll pay for on arrival, and arrival taxes as well. The Covid test was supposed to be forty dollars but was free (if they even do it still).
- Internet, phones. Some hotels and restaurants or cafes have (restricted) WiFi. But don’t expect it to be fast. Download stuff you need in advance, and don’t expect to be on your social media. Foreigners can’t get SIM cards.
Read More
Looking for some inspiration? Read this story about all the things we saw and did on our Turkmenistan trip.
Or check out the Destinations page for stories about our other off-beat adventures all over Central Asia.
For more of our adventures (and misadventures) as we travel from Cameroon to Japan, check out the rest of my stories from the road.
This Post Has 2 Comments
Really helpful. One suggestion would be to give an indication of costs of guide/driver/in-country transportation. Thank you. Again, wonderful information.
Thanks, that’s great to hear! I know what you mean about costs:) – I haven’t added much about that here because, I think it mainly comes down to the quote from your tour operator. They book everything and you pay for it like a package up front, so the individual transport costs are all rolled up in there – ie you aren’t buying tickets and paying fares as you go. Mainly you’d have some control over that if you were on a private tour (like ours) and specified that you preferred certain trains/flights – whatever. Re the guide, we received two quotes from the operators we talked to: one with guide, one without.