Overland trip from Iran to Kyrgyzstan

[timbo]

Hi everyone!

Amazing website! So much incredibly useful information!

I am planning to do an overland trip beginning in March that goes something like this:

Iran 3 weeks
Turkmenistan (hopefully) 5 days
Uzbekistan 3 weeks
Tajikistan 3 weeks including the Pamir highway
Kyrgyzstan 1 week

Nothing too specific planned yet, would prefer to stay as flexible as possible.

Anyway as the ATM situation doesn't sound great... will i have to bring in all the cash i plan to use for the whole trip? Have other people done this? any tips for travelling with so much cash as it's something i have never done before? Or is there a city where i can reliably take out more cash at the moment?

Any tips or comments for the trip or specifically the cash would be amazing thanks!

[olmo]

Dushanbe has plenty of ATMs, so just bring cash to last until there. U can use plenty money transfer companies in UZ should you run out there.

Or actually, since the official exchange rate is no longer different from the black market, it should be fine to use ATMs there too now! Probably sth in the forums about it ... just don't leave with more cash than what u had when entering.

[Ewcyna]

Kyrgyzstan is not a problem for ATM, although mostly for VISA, not MC.
UZ better to have USD to exchange. Last week I met travellers in Uz, they didn't have a smallest note of USD to exchange, just ATM card which caused problems.. better avoid it.

[steven]

Problem in Uzb is indeed that ATMs are often empty and ones that accept foreign cards difficult to find in smaller places. Not sure what the recent banking situation is in Tajikistan....

Kyrgyzstan is easy.

A moneybelt is a useful tool to carry big amounts of money.

[KevinLi]

We just came doing the same trip and it was awesome! Good luck!

Personally, we spend much less time in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (maybe 10 days each) and much more in Kyrgyzstan (around 4 weeks). In Tajikistan, apart from the Pamir (where you can definitely spend 2 weeks) the most interesting thing is the Fan mountains, but I'm not sure they are accessible in March/April.

Money:

In Uzbekistan we found ATMs accepting foreign cards in Bukhara and Samarkand. You could also take dollars out of them.

In Kyrgyzstan, Dushanbe is not a problem at all. In any case however, people also accept dollar all along the Pamir.

Kyrgyzstan is very straightforward.

[roro]

Hi,

And about Turkm? the main issue on this trip, isn't it?