Caravanistan

When everything was sorted out, I wanted to give the taxi driver $10, but he would not take it and took only $3. Tajikistan is the 50th country I travelled to and I have never seen that before. I cannot guarantee it will happen to you, but that give you an idea of how nice the people of Central Asi...

My best advice is not to worry about it, and hope the guards don’t notice either. And worst case scenario and they call you out on it, just explain the mistake and they should be understanding. Another traveller I met in Uzbekistan last month showed me his sticker visa which the embassy printed with...

Figured I’d write a report about my recent crossing of the Penjikent border on my trip from Samarkand to Dushanbe. It’s much of the same of what’s already been said here, with a few key quirky differences. Started out from the Registan just before 9:00 a.m., and I could not for the life of me find w...

Ah, I misread this as going from Nukus to Aktau, not the reverse. It’s true that there are not daily trains from Urgench/Nukus in this direction, though I’ve heard it’s possible to catch a daily overnight to/from Kungrad, about 90 minutes east of Nukus. But again, if your timing is right with that l...

Som or dollars are both accepted at that day’s exchange rate, at least in the hotels I stayed at in Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Nukus.

There is no direct train currently running to Aktau, you must change in Beyneu. Aktau-Beyneu runs frequently though, should be able to be arranged with a connection of a few hours max. Keep in mind that border control happens at Karakalpakia (UZ) and Beyneu (KZ), so allow at least an hour to clear i...

I just did this trip, organized by my hotel, the Jipek Joli . They originally quoted me $70, but I negotiated down to $50 which included a driver/guide who spoke basic English, a modern car with air conditioning and a few stops at some other ancient Karakalpak sights on the way back from Moynaq. Gre...

Might as well answer my own question. This train appears to run only once a week now (according to the ticket seller in Volgograd), on Saturdays. Volgograd —> Nukus is 5700 rub. for platzkart, 9800 for kupe. Leaves Volgograd-1 at 19:59, arrive in Nukus two days later at 12:57.

Is it also true that the currency declaration has been abolished? I will be taking the train from Volgograd to Nukus this weekend and I’ve read that this particular KZ-UZ border crossing is famous for not giving out the declaration form... which gets you in trouble later. Any advice is appreciated!

There is no computerized bank transfer necessary when ordering this visa. Your bank should simply make a money order for the described amount, similar to a cheque, payable to the Embassy of Uzbekistan, which a staff member will cash in person. There are some Canadian examples here: https://www.uzbek...