Bajgiran/Ashgabat border updates

[cyberol]

Crossed from Iran to Turkmenistan at Bajgiran border at the end of August with our own vehicle.

Iran side:
Was easy and pleasant. Opens at around 8-8:30am

TKM side:
At Bajgiran, the border opens from 9am to 5:30pm with a lunch time from noon to 1pm.
(One of my TKM friend told me that the other borders have a lunch time from 12:30 to 2pm!)
One of the older officer took me to his Soviet-style office. He was well drunk and still drinking his bottle of vodka as he asked if I could help him with my heart!! Not sure how many dollars is a heartily help lol

The car check was not as thorough as I had heard and they did not check any cameras, computer, hard disks, books, iphone, ..

About 10 people working on the TKM side, better at smoking cigarettes and joking than doing their job in a fast and efficient way.

In the end, I had to pay:
- 3 US$ for disinfection
- 25US$ for entry and transit passage!
- 24 US$ for compensation of fuel cost (even though I made sure my tank was almost empty to avoid that very tax!!)
- 45 US$ for 3rd party liability car insurance (not sure for how long it is valid)
- 5 US$ for processing & permit
- And bunch of cigarettes

[thacaldeirinha]

Hello All, does any of you know if the border is open during weekends - saturday and sunday ? that time ? thanks

[Silvio]

We crossed the border Howdan/Gaudan-Bajgiran from Turkmenistan to Iran by foot/public transportation.
From our hotel we took a taxi to a first border check around 18 km south of the city center. The taxi was 30 manat. There they checked our passports and we had to go into a bus.
By bus we went the other 30km to the border. It was 10 manat per person.
The crossing on turkmen side was very easy and fast. They just did a short look in our bags.
On iranian side the same. But it took a bit longer.
After the border crossing we could change money ($ in Rial) at the border for the normal rate.
From there we took a direct shared taxi to Mashhad. We payed 30$ together for two persons.

[Roos]

We crossed the border 15 may 2018 from Iran to Turkmenistan. Everything went very well. Our taxi could drop us of in front of the border, so we didn't have to walk the 2 km uphill as we thought we would. We were there at 8 am, so we were the first to arrive.
All together it took us maybe two hours and that was because we had to wait 30 min for the Turkmenistan border to open and for the bus to start driving.
We had to pay 12$ per person and 1$ per person for the bus from the border to a taxistand outside Ashgabat.

[dzi]

We were in border point 18th of june, everything went smooth, taxi driver from Quchan droped us on the border (400000 rials for two), so we didn't had to walk. 12$ per person, they asked us about drugs, cigarettes (two packs per person it"s okay), do we have transport, we said no. From the border, one guy picked us for free (but we had to wait one hour) to Ashgabad, because he waited for one iranian couple, he was their driver.

[Mirmiru]

I crossed the border IR --> TM last March with a French passport and a French car.

Iranian side (1 hour): 1 passport and car registration control / carnet de passages filled in by a semi experienced customs officer (supervised by his competent chief) / another passport control / chassis number control. No inspection of the cargo / another passport control. One man who had been around me all the time without playing any role asked me for a "present". The answer was no

Turkmen side (1h45): 10 steps
1. Passport control + fingerprints scan
2. 14 USD entry tax
3. Passport control again
4. Entry permit. The fees have changed since the September 2017 post.
- 1 USD for disinfection
- 30 USD for entry and transit passage
- 40 USD for compensation of fuel cost.
- 35 USD for 3rd party liability car insurance (5 days)
- 5 USD for processing & permit
And there is a new feature: you are given a GPS beacon... for your safety in TM!!! You pay a 14 USD deposit (I didn't get it back when I exited TM. The customs officers in Dashoguz said they had never heard about it) and a 4 USD processing fee.
5. Permit payment = 129 USD. They were surprised I never had anything to pay when entering the countries I crossed before TM...
6. One more stamp on the permit.
7. Idem. One of the employees asks me about tips... It doesn't go further.
8. Digital registration of the car data
9. Foreign currency control
10. Thorough cargo inspection, with the help of a specialist for medicines. No particular issue. A carton of Iranian cigarettes is OK. A 20 litre petrol jerry can is also fine.
All officers were quite relaxed and friendly. Much more than I expected. They don't have much to do and have no mobile phone nor Internet connection.
It is forbidden to take any picture on the way to Ashgabat (35 km). There are several watchtowers along the road (Welcome to Turkmenistan!). About 5 km before Ashgabat, there is a gate and a last passport control.

[JoMo1971]

I crossed the border - Turkmenistan (Gaudan) to Iran (Bajgiran) - in early July 2018 and I have to say it was pretty straight forward, quick and trouble free.

For a price of 50 Manat, I used the driver (in his plush brand new car) from my Ashgabat hotel to get to the checkpoint where the bus to the actual border departs - with the black market exchange rate at the time of 18 manat to 1 US$ it was pretty cheap, but I reckon you’d probably get cheaper on the street if the exchange rate isn’t as favourable as it was when I was there. At this first checkpoint, your passport will need to be shown and it was then straight on the bus to the actual border. This bus journey which left 15 minutes after I arrived cost me 10 manat and this was paid when I get off. Another thing to note is that the bus made two stops at the border control point and it was the second one I got off at. As was experienced upon my entry to the country, the Turkmenistan border staff were super friendly and polite, my luggage was checked (if you could call it that ) and my passport stamped and that was it - all done in a matter of minutes! The Iran side (literally a 30 second walk away) had an initial checkpoint with a very friendly guy who took my passport details and welcomed me to Iran. Once inside the border control building, I added my passport to the passport pile at the border security guys window and when he returned to his seat he dealt with mine first as it was on the top and sent me and my passport to another window where another guy stamped it. I was then told to go back to the first guy who checked my passport and motioned me to go through to customs. Here, my luggage was put through an X-ray machine and I was all good to go! Totally painless and a totally welcoming experience. Bear in mind, I already had my Iranian visa in my passport, so this could have helped with the speed.

Once through the control you are greeted by a load of guys offering taxis to Mashhad, Quchan, etc.. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and a few laughs later I agreed on $15 for one of them to take me all the way to Mashhad, although having got to grips with the favourable black market exchange rate later on in my trip, I reckon you could definitely get this cheaper - this was also possibly highlighted too when the taxi driver suddenly got toothache in Quchan (Ha! Ha!) and he transferred me to another taxi to take me the rest of the way. You can't really grumble though, as the cost is still ridiculously cheap for a 230km journey compared to prices at home and both drivers were lovely with the second one treating me to an ice cream too.

A guy who seemed to be the taxi boss man at the border will also exchange some Euros/$s at a preferential rate than the official conversion rate, but just change enough necessary for two days or so, as you'll definitely get more for your money in Mashhad.

Hope this helps!

[rcabecos]

Any updates on this border crossing? I plan on doing it the 8th of September

[rcabecos]

We crossed the border Howdan/Gaudan-Bajgiran from Turkmenistan to Iran by foot/public transportation.
From our hotel we took a taxi to a first border check around 18 km south of the city center. The taxi was 30 manat. There they checked our passports and we had to go into a bus.
By bus we went the other 30km to the border. It was 10 manat per person.
The crossing on turkmen side was very easy and fast. They just did a short look in our bags.
On iranian side the same. But it took a bit longer.
After the border crossing we could change money ($ in Rial) at the border for the normal rate.
From there we took a direct shared taxi to Mashhad. We payed 30$ together for two persons.

Did you have your Turkmenistan Transit Visa on your passport, or went with the letter and got it stamped at the border?

[CianoH]

We had our letter of invitation prior to our arrival but it took about 4 hours to get our visa. Priority given to locals with local passports. A lot of confusion and waiting around, you go to the first booth and give your passport, then get called into second booth and get asked some strange questions by some head border guy, then get called into third booth to pay for the visa. Then eventually called back to the first booth to get your passport and visa. Once that process is finished if driving through you stop at a number of other rooms where border guards will ask for dollars etc, just play dumb and move on. We were also issued with a tracking device for the car but never actually turned it on or used it which didnt cause any problems when leaving.

Drive from the border to Ashgabat is really easy then!