A Few Days in Turkmenistan from Uzbekistan (page 1 of 2)

The latest travel journal about Turkmenistan dates back to 2019. Here’s a quick update on this vast desert country, which is now a bit easier to visit than before.

This is my first travel journal. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. The country is slowly opening up, but it’s still possible to visit sites where you’ll be completely alone. In five days, I saw two Hongkongers, a few Germans, and a Chilean at the crater, ten Chinese people in a capital bazaar, and that’s it!

It’s possible to visit Turkmenistan from Uzbekistan. The easiest and most economical way is to take a taxi to the border from Bukhara. The trip takes a little over an hour.

Crossing the border takes quite a while because many Turkmen bring back items bought in Uzbekistan to resell in Turkmenistan. For example, diapers, baby products, or beauty products. It took me over 2.5 hours to cross the border. To visit Turkmenistan, it’s mandatory to have a guide and go through a travel agency. British agencies often offer three-, five-, or seven-day trips for over 1,500 or 2,000 €. But if your budget is more limited, you can contact a few Turkmen agencies directly by email, and they’ll make you an offer between 700 and 1,300 € for three to seven days. I took a five-day trip from Turkmenabat in the northeast of the country to Dashoguz in the north. The goal was to visit the main UNESCO-listed sites, including Merv, and archaeological sites like Nisa or Gonur Tepe.

Your guide will also be your driver. They’ll pick you up at the border. The formalities are very long because customs officers have to stamp multiple documents, and obtaining the visa you previously requested from your travel agency requires several checks. But the process goes relatively smoothly, even if each step takes a while.

Once on the other side, the first surprise is the brand-new highway all the way to Turkmenabat. A very long line of trucks stretches for several kilometers on the Turkmen side to cross the border into Uzbekistan. According to my guide, Turkmen trucks transport gas and cotton (though not this season, since the harvest is in September), but they mainly fill up their tanks because fuel is much cheaper in Turkmenistan. A full tank for a car costs about 3 €, which is unbeatable.



From the Farap border post, the goal is to reach the city of Mary, which is home to the UNESCO-listed site of Merv in its suburbs, about thirty kilometers away. This city is known as a foundation by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC under the name Alexandria of Margiana. Several fortresses are visible.



After more than three hours on the road, we have lunch at a Turkish restaurant called Aladdin. Several quotes from the president are visible along the highway, but the road is in good condition, and we move along easily. This will be by far the best road in the country—things will get much worse later.



Roundabouts are particularly interesting because they feature emblems of Turkmen culture, like the dog, a carpet, the Ahal Teke horse, or Muslim symbols, even though the presence of Islamic artifacts is quite limited.

Hi Verpa,

I'm heading to this destination I don't know at all yet :)

Thanks, it's one of the least visited countries.

For anecdotes, it's tricky to take photos in public places. For example, it's forbidden to photograph in train stations, trains, banks, and town halls.

Hello. Thanks for this travel journal. It's interesting to get an inside look at a country many of us will never visit.

Don’t hesitate to pick up your really interesting story! I went to Turkmenistan in 2014 and I’m really curious to see if anything has changed (I imagine not, but you never know).

Thanks. I’ll keep adding to the trip story bit by bit! Next stop: Merv.

Arriving in Merv, the first impressions are surprising. The country is unique: a vast desert, trucks everywhere (especially gas trucks). 95% of the cars are white—the only ones that aren’t are the few old Ladas still on the road. The rule about white cars only applies in the capital. White, gold, and silver cars are the only ones allowed in the capital. But in Mary, you’ll find some colorful Ladas or Chinese cars.

We filled up the tank. LPG for the car costs 0.001 cents per liter. Unbeatable—world record!

On the way to Merv, old French trucks, including some from Leclerc at the border, get a second life there.

The country isn’t as poor as you might think. It’s very sanitized in a purely authoritarian style.

At the supermarket, it was like a Super U back home. Lots of Russian and Iranian products in the stores. There’s Président cheese and French wine, including sparkling wines and cognac.

Merv is a large archaeological site near the city of Mary. The archaeological park is about thirty kilometers northeast and features ruins that aren’t overrun with visitors. These fortresses resemble those north of Khiva in Uzbekistan but are less restored.







Among the most important buildings, you’ll find a Greek fortress from the Hellenistic era, Achaemenid walls, and even an icehouse used to store ice for the scorching summers. Several mausoleums are also open to visitors on the archaeological site. What’s a bit surprising is seeing that many graves were set up between the 1930s and 1960s within the current archaeological park and weren’t moved. Hellenistic ruins stand alongside 17th-century mausoleums and 20th-century graves.





Herders walk or watch their camels between the different points of interest.







The city of Mary is one of the most important in the provinces, aside from Ashgabat. A large hippodrome with a golden equestrian statue stands out on the outskirts of the city. Tourists can stay in public hotels, which are government-owned, or private ones. No contest—the private hotels are much more comfortable and have much stronger Wi-Fi. In fact, at the private Margush Hotel, the Wi-Fi is geolocated in Bulgaria, which lets you access pretty much any site you’d use in Europe.





The rules are changing. It’s now possible to walk around in the evening, alone, without a guide, near the hotel and admire the city’s main mosque with its large golden dome. Before, you could only wander freely in the capital. Worshippers aren’t that numerous, since although the country is officially Muslim, religious practice is controlled by the government.

On TV, it’s simple—either folk singing or recitations from the former president’s book, with propaganda clips glorifying local tribes, Ahal Teke horses, or the capital’s monuments.

A small fair lets kids have fun, just like anywhere else in the world. Worth noting: the Ferris wheel costs 0.08 € in 2026.

A few additional photos for Mary and Merv.

You can see many statues in the cities. The vibe feels different compared to Uzbekistan: you might still come across Lenin statues here and there, and Russian Orthodox churches. The Turkmen people I met dream of Moscow, but even more so of Istanbul—or surprisingly, Egypt, Poland, and Belarus!

What route did you take? How many days did it take? It's definitely easier to get there in 2026 than it was in 2014.

What route did you take? How many days did it take? It's much easier to go there in 2026 than it was in 2014.

I arrived from Iran with a tourist visa. I stayed for 5 or 6 days: Ashgabat, Turkmenbashi (round trip by plane), and a small town not far from Ashgabat where I spent a night with a "model family"—complete with a portrait of the president in the living room. Contrary to what you wrote, I was already able to wander around alone outside Ashgabat. In Turkmenbashi, I stayed without any (visible) supervision. I was even able to take the bus alone to the totally empty seaside resort of Avaza.

On the other hand, the internet was a complete disaster. I only had network coverage in Ashgabat, and even then, I had to go to the 5-star hotel where the flight attendants and airline crews staying in the city were lodged.

An incredible country—I have some amazing memories of it, and I’m following your posts with great interest!

I'm totally charmed by the description of this country :) (which I'll probably never visit).

Only white, gold, and silver cars are allowed in the capital.

Is there a reason for this somewhat surprising rule?

I’m totally charmed by the description of this country 🙂 (which I’ll probably never visit).

Only white, gold, and silver cars are allowed in the capital.

Is there a reason for this somewhat surprising rule?

These are three colors chosen by the former president to emphasize the clean and slightly flashy character of the city. Red, yellow, or green cars stay outside the city. All the buildings in the city center are white, gold, or silver. Just like the cars.

Oh, it's interesting to read that you could already go out in Turkmenbashi back in 2014. At the same time, it's so far west in the country. That's the part I didn’t want to visit in the middle of summer, especially the Yangykala Canyon.

So the round-trip flight was with Turkmenistan Airlines? They’ve bought some planes in recent years. But maintenance is still poor.

The internet was way more accessible than what I’d read online before leaving. Most Turkmen have phones limited to the country itself. A lot of people use VPNs, especially to follow Turkish, Korean, or Russian series. My guide even watched the NBA on American channels. Except at the Dashoguz crater, we had signal in many remote desert spots. At the Aladdin restaurant in Mary, one of the slightly upscale Turkish restaurants in town (dishes for 6–8 €), there’s a pretty reliable internet connection. In Ashgabat, at the Aka Altyn hotel where foreigners often stay, it didn’t work in my room but was slow in the lobby next to the president’s portrait and the breakfast room. One thing all hotels have in common: breakfasts are definitely not the country’s specialty! Most of the time, they’re awful. It’s better to buy samosas from street stalls in the suburbs or the countryside. They’re excellent, around 30 euro cents, and piping hot.

Hi,

It looks like Turkmenistan is setting up an e-visa system and online registration; an invitation letter shouldn’t be required anymore soon.

https://turkmenistaninfo.gov.tm/en/news/turkmenistan-zapusti-1 https://evisa.migration.gov.tm/web/

Michel

This travel journal is truly eye-opening! Turkmenistan is a country we don’t hear much about, and your story makes me want to see what lies behind its reputation as a closed-off place.

I especially love the little details of your trip: the hours spent at the border, the trucks, filling up for 3 €, the roundabouts with their horses and carpets... It’s those kinds of things that bring a journal to life and help us picture daily life there. And knowing you barely ran into any other tourists in 5 days gives this wild sense of really getting away from it all.

Thanks for taking the time to share this experience—especially with such concrete details on agencies and budget-friendly travel options!

Thanks for the info. That confirms what I saw this summer: for the past year, it’s been much easier to visit the country than before. The country needs to diversify its economy, and tourism is part of that.

Thanks, I’ll continue the story in the coming days. I still have about forty photos to upload and a few more stories to share.

The country is indeed quite unique. In terms of clothing, you sometimes feel like you’ve stepped back to the late Soviet era—but without the hammer and sickle!

Thanks for the travel journal and for what’s coming next. Turkmenistan is really intriguing.

Hi Verpa,

Like others, I’m waiting for more details. As you mentioned, there’s not much info on this destination that interests me.

Could you share the names of local agencies and their contact details, please?

Did you have any interactions with the locals? Under what conditions? Is it possible? Are there villages with traditional housing? Are there markets or souks?

I’d like to know if visiting the country is just about seeing sites, or if it’s possible to meet people and discover their way of life.

Thanks in advance for your feedback, Laurence