Reports: Madaniyat-Izboskan border crossing (UZ-KG)

[JulienFR]

Hi !

Two frenchies crossing on the 29/08/19.
There is just one baggage check on Uzbek side (they seemed to be looking thoroughly at the screen this time...), two quick passport checks and one official for the stamp out.
Their is no baggage check on the Kyrgyz side and the guards where nice but clearly better things to do than check our passports!

- We cleared both customs in a total of 15mn, it was around 9:30am and it was not packed.
- We changed money in the street with a guy just before crossing at approximately the same rate than international rates.
- The taxi ride from the center of Andijan was лв30 000.
- As said in the previous posts, the name of the border is Medaniyat, as is the name of the city on the display at the entrance. The locals don't know about an Izboskan border (although the name on the map is Izboskan).
- Still only pedestrians and cyclists
- Really easy to hitchhike after the Kyrgyz border!

Regards

Sarah & Julien

[royalenfield]

just went today.. i can confirm it's only pedestrian.. so off we continue to the Osh (Dostuk) border, to cross KG to UZ and back to renew car permit

[InFlames87]

Hello,

since the last post, which is nearly 3 years old, are there any updates to this border? I can't find something new, but 3 years is a lot of time. Is it still only for pedestrians and bike?

Is Osch the only possible border from KG to UZ with a rental car?

Thanks for your help

[Matt]

Maybe a bit late for InFlames87, but we crossed this border today. All the previous posts are still accurate. The crossing is only for pedestrians and cyclists (for both locals and tourists).

It was very straight forward. We managed to change money at the border and got a reasonable rate. Bag scanner on the Uzbek side and were through in 30 minutes.

There’s a MegaCom just up from the border crossing for SIM Cards, there are also a couple of ATMs, but they are 2/3km away from the border towards Bishkek. The MegaCom person who kindly cycled with us to the ATM. Neither we marked on Google Maps.

[RollingTreeHouse]

Crossed this border from last week, can also confirm the previous posts, especially that you need to ask for "Medaniyat"/"Madaniyat" instead of "Izboskan".
The town signs and the passport stamps all say "Madaniyat", so maybe the title of this thread and the section in the wiki should be changed accordingly.

Arrived in Andijon in the evening and the drivers at the Andijon bus terminal wanted to charge me 200'000 sum because "the border will close within an hour", obviously I decided to look somewhere else, with the Dostyk border to Osh being a safe and commonly used 24/7 alternative.
After dinner I tried again to get a taxi, this time from the taxi ranks near the "new bazar" (OSM). The drivers may not know immediately where you want to go, but after consulting with their fellow drivers they will gladly take you there, I got a yellow city taxi for 70'000 sum and around 40 minutes later I was there with the border still open at 20:30/21:30 local times.

There were some money changers lurking for new arrivals to sell Kyrgyz som, I already had more than enough KGS so I ignored them, but it seems that there aren't as many money changers on the Kyrgyz side, so you might want to get rid of your UZS here.
Uzbek customs were done quickly, a luggage scan and a quick look at "suspicious" items, the passport stamp and you're off to cross the bridge to Kyrgyzstan.
Getting into Kyrgyzstan involved a chaotic line for the sole immigration counter and a quick look through your luggage for the senior customs officer to show off his English skills.

After exiting the border premises, you'll be swarmed by taxi drivers asking where you're going, if you don't want to try your luck hitchhiking at the petrol station nearby (OSM), you can get shared taxis to Toktogul/Bishkek and Jalal-Abad/Osh at reasonable rates from them.
Nearby there are some stores selling food and drink accepting Kyrgyz som and giving you the option of getting your change in KGS or goods/candies in case you're heading to Uzbekistan and want to reduce your small change.
There is a shop representing Beeline and MegaCom nearby, ironically you won't get reception until you leave town, although you can still get decent signal from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz networks show up after a couple kilometers or about half an hour driving.

[lonelytraveller01]

Hello, I would like to ask if anyone had crossed this border on the Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan border recently? Is it open daily 24 hours? Is it easy to get taxi to anywhere in the Kyrgyzstan side? I would like to get a ride from there to Sary Chelek and see how much it will cost...

Thanks!

[HughW]

I passed through this border UZ -> KG on 29th August 2022. No problems and everything written above is still true.

From https://caravanistan.com/kyrgyzstan/mon ... withdrawal I got the impression that ATMs in Kyrgyzstan are hard to find. In fact I assumed there wouldn't be any other ATMs except in the towns listed on this page, so I procured enough Kyrgyz Som to take me all the way from the border to Bishkek.

Well that's not correct at all. There's a bank with a Visa/Mastercard ATM inside KZ just after the border crossing (41.04604,72.32075 https://goo.gl/maps/aSiLrWAnaDNJHhHv7). Heading north towards Bishkek I can confirm there are several in Shamaldy-Say, and also Taşkomur, and several on the map in Karakol (the Karakol in the south of the country).

In other words, so far every moderately sized town has had multiple ATMs. I'm guessing the situation has changed a lot since that page was last updated.

[culebro]

Just crossed this week this border, from KG to UZ.
It is open for pedestrians and I guess cyclists (many bikes nowadays in the Fergana btw). Not for vehicles, it is simply not suited for it.
Easy crossing, a couple of questions (curiosity + just to check that you have not overstayed in KG) and a bit of queue in the UZ side, but overall you are done in like 15-30 mins. Who would have said back in 2016 that the UZ guards would just check your passport and immediately stamp it without further questions.
From Kochkor Ata to Madanyat (the name everyone uses) is 100 soms in a shared taxi, but bear in mind that it may take time to fill a taxi. The Madanyat pass is just ~3 kms away of the Bishkek-Osh route, so if you want to do it in one day, talk to your driver to drive you to the border. Worst case, you can walk it from the crossroads where the road goes further to Osh.
From Madanyat to Andizhan a shared taxi for ~40 minutes, I think 30-40.000 would be at this time normal, maybe it is possible to achieve for less but I am not sure (in a good car, in a shitty car you can maybe get down to 20-25, but just speculating). Oil is not very cheap in UZ (more expensive than in KG as far as I saw) so expect somehow higher prices. Anyway, just make clear your price and when drivers turn around then other drivers willing to fill their car will pick you up.
In the KG side they changed my KGZ for UZS with just like 3% loss vs the official change. It is the only exchange point that I saw in the KG side but with decent rates.

[OlieKr]

We crossed the border on foot on 19th July 2023.
It took us about 15 minutes, the Uzbek staff seemed purely curious about our passports and what books we had brought with us. No customs declarations or forms, no questions about money or souvenirs etc.

Leaving Kyrgyzstan they seemed a bit puzzled by our UK passports but had no problem with letting us through. A quick photo and a stamp and that was it.

It is just a small footbridge with checkpoints either side so no cars or vehicles. Arriving in Uzbekistan we were hounded by a group of 15 local taxi drivers looking to exchange dollars and give you a ride. Do not give them any cash, you can pay for the taxi in USD and there are proper currency conversion places in the cities. They try to put a lot of pressure on you.

Otherwise no issues, it's a easy and effective place to cross if you don't want to/aren't travelling all the way to Osh.

Safe travels!

[UncleChips]

Thanks for previous information which was helpful for our planning today.
Feeling lazy so we took a Yandex taxi from Margilan to the border. Cost 235,000 som and took 2 hours. The driver was calmer than usual. I showed him photos of the previous days accident (which we were almost a part of) and asked him to drive 'slowly slowly ' in Uzbek.
Border crossing two minutes both sides of the border.
Got a 7 passenger SUV shared taxi from the the KG side to Arslanbob. 550 som per person and two hours.
Very relaxing day.