Astana - Olgii by bus or shared taxi

[Brunoc38]

Hei,
Here some Information about the trip Astana -> Olgii,
We took first a bus from Astana (bus station, come at least 2h in advance if you want to get a ticket) to Cemei (KZ) There is a bus at 1 pm and 5 pm everyday. The bus take at least 10 hours. If you are very courageous, when you arrive in Cemei, you can head off to the international bus station, (few fm north of the bus station you arrive) and there is a bus at 8.30 am toward Barnaul (Russia), but we advise to spend one day in Cemei.
So then, you take the bus to Barnaul. It takes 9-10 h.
From Barnaul, if you are still super motivated, you can try to take the last bus of the day to Gorno Altai. Don't forget to ask a ticket for your luggage. Or you can sleep at one of the guest house close to the bus station in Barnaul and take one of the first bus to Gorno Altaisk, at 7.00 am. There is a bus every 2h and it takes 5h.
In Gorno Altai, the only bus to Aktash seems to be at 6.30 am, so you should sleep one night their or start to hitch hike.

So this is the complicated way we tried, or otherwise you can take a shared taxi (7 seats car) that goes very often from Astana to Olgii. They start in Astana in Panfilov Street.
You can contact Baki, one of the nice drivers thats speaks perfectly english, on one of this 3 numbers (MGL: +976 9513 7696, KAZ: +7 778 873 31 47, RUS: +7 913 996 89 63), but there are many drivers every days. The way took 2 days, and they stop at least one night for sleeping in a motel before the Russian/ Mongolian Border (200 rb/pers).
In Olgii, we discover there are also shared taxis that goes daily from to Almaty, so probably, it is possible to do Almaty -> Olgii
The trip with them cost between 15.000-20.000 Kaz Tenge in the direction to Olgii and 100.000 tugrik in the other way.

have fun
Bruno

[davrunaway]

I just arrived here in Olgii by bus from Astana (Nur Sultan).

I tried to get a bus ticket in Almaty, I called Sayran Bus Terminal hotline, they said they have bus running twice a week. So, I went to the Sayran Bus Terminal trying to get a ticket. At first, they told me I could only buy the bus ticket couple days in advanced, then they told me the bus has not been running for 3 months.

I needed a bus ticket to apply for the Russian Transit Visa.
So, with the help of a staff in Soul hostel, I was able to book an online bus ticket from Astana to Olgii which costs 16,700 tenge (including luggage).

I almost missed my bus in Astana because I went to the wrong bus terminal. I went to Saparzhay Bus Terminal instead of Nurly Zhol.
On the bus ticket, the departure point states ‘Сапаржай-2’ (Saparzhay 2) which refers to Nurly Zhol. It wasn’t really obvious when I get to Nurly Zhol because there was only a small signboard stating the new bus terminal or smth.

Departed from Astana on Sat 8pm and arrived Olgii on Monday 3pm. In total, it took 43 hours with toilet breaks every 4-5 hours and meals in between. Before the Pavlodar/Kulunda border, we had a breakfast break at some restaurant 2-3km to the border. In Barnaul, we had another lunch break at some restaurant which accepts credit card. Then, we had dinner at somewhere after Gorno-Altaysk. The border Russia/Mongolia took around 4 hours.

Anyway, hope these info will be useful for anyone embarking on the same journey.

Regards,
David