Atyrau to Tblisi via Astrakhan and Vladikavkaz

[Jonesy]

Hello. I'm trying to piece together whether or not it's possible to do the above route using trains and buses. I know there's a train from Atyrau to Astrakhan but then can't find much info beyond that. Has anyone traveled this route recently?

I'm a UK passport holder, too. Would a transit visa for RU suffice, or would I need a full-on tourist visa? I'm not planning to stopover any longer than necessary in either Astrakhan or Vladikavkaz, just pick up the connecting transport.

[sebhoff]

The connection I found is from Atyrau via Volgograd and Kropotkin/Kavkazskaya to Vladikavkaz. From there, you’ll have to take a bus…
No idea about visas - but it seems UK passport holders can’t apply for an eVisa.

[Milad]

An e-Visa would be pretty useless, as no border crossing on the Russian-Kazakh border can be used with an e-Visa. A transit visa would generally suffice, but you generally need to show the Russian Embassy your tickets for the entire journey for this (in lieu of an invitation). As you cannot pre-book the bus from Vladikavkaz to Georgia, this may not be possible. But maybe you can explain this to the consulate and it's fine (try and see).

Going via Volgograd and Kropotkin seems like a pretty large detour to me. If you want to do everything by train, you can take train 625C, running every second night from Atyrau to Astrakhan.

Then, you have two options. You can take train 301S to Grozny, leaving 08:20 (you won't make this with the night train from Atyrau, so you'd either need to spend a day in Astrakhan or travel from Atyrau to Astrakhan the day before by bus/marshrutka). The train reaches Grozny in the evening, spend the night there. The next day, take a marshrutka or bus to Vladikavkaz (110 km, 2h) and continue from there to Georgia. If you start early, you should easily make it to Tbilisi in one day.

Of course, Grozny is the capital of Chechnya, which is associated with war, terrorism etc. But nowadays the situation is calm (thanks to a police state - of course there is much to criticise) and there is generally nothing to be afraid of (just never discuss politics or religion with locals).

If you really want to avoid Grozny and/or do it all by train, you can take a night train from Astrakhan to Makhachkala (leaving 00:56, but this train comes from Moscow and spends an hour at the platform so you can board at around midnight), spend a few hours there, take an evening train from Makhachkala to Prokhladny (railway station "Prokhladnaya"), spend the night there, and take an early-morning train to Vladikavkaz (there are long-distance trains leaving 06:30 or 07:00 depending on the day, arriving 09:05 or 10:00; there will likely be elektrishky too, schedule not known).

As pass.rzd.ru (Russian Railways website) is geoblocked, I use Belarusian Railways website pass.rw.by to check train times (and you can also buy tickets there as Belarus is not sanctioned), but they removed the English translation recently, so you need to understand some Russian to use it. Tutu.ru may work if you don't speak Russian (but if there is no direct train, they suggest absurd itineraries, e.g. Astrakhan - Vladikavkaz via Moscow - ignore these).

[Jonesy]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it’s very useful, esp the info about travel visas and whether or not the Russians will give without a pre-booked exit ticket.

[Lzh]

Hi

Thanks for all your very useful info. I´ve checked it and, as you say, to do it all by train from Atryau to Grozny you have to spend one day in Astrakhan. You suggest going by bus the day before from Atryau but I was wondering if could be possible to make Astrakhan-Vladikazkav by bus. And in that case, if the recommended route would be the same: a bus from Astrakhan to Grozny and a another bus to Vladikavkaz.

Thankss

[Milad]

Hi

Thanks for all your very useful info. I´ve checked it and, as you say, to do it all by train from Atryau to Grozny you have to spend one day in Astrakhan. You suggest going by bus the day before from Atryau but I was wondering if could be possible to make Astrakhan-Vladikazkav by bus. And in that case, if the recommended route would be the same: a bus from Astrakhan to Grozny and a another bus to Vladikavkaz.

Thankss

According to Tutu, there seems to be a direct bus from Astrakhan to Vladikavkaz. But you need to check for yourself if and when it runs on the day you plan to travel.