Transportation

Air

International carriers flying into Ashgabat include Lufthansa and Turkish airlines who fly 3 and 5 times a week respectively, usually reaching Ashgabat late at night, with Lufthansa stopping over in Baku, (Azerbaijan). Turkmenistan airlines fly to London, Frankfurt and Istanbul at slightly more competitive rates. Further there are daily connections to Moscow and one or two flights to the other central Asian capitals and Kiev. Local flights are reasonable and have a good safety record on their frequent scheduled flights between Ashgabat and Turkmenistan's regional centres. Please note that the baggage allowance on the small planes (Yak 40, An-24) is only 10 kg with strict limits on the size of luggage. Advance arrangements should be taken if you happen to carry outsize baggage on smaller planes or you should pick the flights with larger planes (Yak-42, Tu-154). Ayan can handle your air-ticketing against a small fee. Check out our airline links for schedules.

Rail

There are supposedly three international trains a week on the routings between Moscow, Tashkent and Almaty crossing the periphery of Turkmenistan and Turkmenabat (Chardjou) and Dashogus (Tashauz) twice. (No Turkmen Transit visas are required for travellers with through ticketing.)

The local Transcaspian railway crosses the entire south of Turkmenistan from the Caspian to Turkmenabat (Chardjou) where you can connect / change to Moscow or Tashkent. Despite the opening of the Sarags railway crossing into Northern Iran, potentially linking Central Asia with Istanbul, no passenger through service is available as yet and one has to cross the Iranian border by taxi or bus. The railway network runs fairly well and most trains have reasonable standards.

Please contact us for updated Railway or Turkmenistan Airline schedules. Please note note that time-tables are sporadic and sometimes simply incorrect and should be re-consulted 1-2 weeks before departure. We highly recommend to pre-arrange all Turkmenistan tickets through us since tickets are scarce and documentation is difficult.

Boat

Turkmenistan can be accessed by boat across the Caspian year-round, the main connection being a daily car & railway ferry between Baku and Turkmenbashi (Krasnovodsk), without any passenger railway link though. Unfortunately the Azeri-run ferry has no regular schedule and passenger tickets in the regions of 50-100 USD are not cheap. Further there is a weekly Russian ferry to Astrakhan, in the Volga region, also without any reliable schedule. There used to be river-boats between the south-eastern city of Atamyrat (Kerki) and Turkmenabat (Chardjou), but these have been suspended with the opening of the local railway covering this end of the country.

Road

Most International Bus services have been suspended; officially there still reamians a twice daily bus-service between Ashgabat and Mashad, but there are no ticket offices or reliable schedule. Nevertheless - Shared Taxis and Minibuses are reasonable to / from and in-between all borders, with services usually starting at the nearest corresponding railway or bus-station. Frequent both urban and domestic Bus and Minibus services run reasonably well and are cheap, nevertheless - again - there are only few scheduled departures.

Private vehicle - Hefty fees and long lasting procedures are applicable for entry by private vehicles into Turkmenistan which depending on the routing and vehicle vary from 70 to 200 USD. Please contact us for a breakdown of thoese fees. Other than that, with the exception of the infamous Darvaza - Kunya Urgench road, the highways are reasonably well maintained by Central Asian standards, but most international road maps have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, with its border with Iran, Turkmenistan is Central Asia's transport hub with good roads all the way through to the Persian Gulf and Europe.