Talas - Taraz border (KAZ - KG)

[steven]

Please read and post reports on the Talas - Taraz border crossing between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan below.

We summarize all info on the Kazakhstan border crossings and Kyrgyzstan border crossings pages.

[cristiano]

Hello,
has anybody any recent info about the border between Talas and Taraz for foireigners?
Is it still open and working?
Is the border situatued between the villages of Kenesh (Kyrg) and Grodikovo (Kaz) as it looks on google maps on a "yellow" road?
Here? 42.789004, 71.503758

Planning to cross there next august on motorcycle...

Thanks very much

[steven]

Hi Cristiano,

yes it is open. Look at the map at http://caravanistan.com/border-crossings for the exact location. See http://caravanistan.com/border-crossings/kazakhstan for latest reports.

[jokelele]

Hi all,

Just crossed with a friend one moth ago. We left Shymkent around 8am in the morning. Mathurska, very cheap. Then, in Taraz, quite hard to get a transport to the border -which it doesnt even have a name....so if you have a map, or stg like this, it'd be quite helpful- After some discussion, we got a taxi vodka driver, who took us to the border for 2000 KAZ. Leaving Kaz waas quite easy, no problem at all. Entering in Kirguistan also easy but the guards they dont have any idea if we could go in or not. Spanish passports. Finally, a nice smile and we got in. In the KIR border u can easily change money. Transport is not very fluent. Shared taxi we had to wait for around 2h. Prize 200 KIR per person. Nice to have lunch just in the cottage right after you exit the barrier. Next to the exchange office. Trip to Talas around 1h, around 35? km. Then in Talas we slept in turdubek's house -CBT-. Quite nice. Awesome beans breakfast. Dinner also really cool, with dumplings. no other options around. His house is the last one of the city, not easy to arrive, used a taxi. For leaving Talas, heading to Toktogul, there is a shared taxi in the morning, not leaving until its' full, finally we paid for 3 tickets, being 2. if not i guess, we wouldnt have left.waiting for hours also. 250 KIR per 1 person. Trip is awesome, crossing the mountains 3300m. All snow. Got to toktogul around 2pm, leaving talas around 10.30-11 after being prosecuted by the police -taking me for an spy!!!- Finally we solved the situation. Quite funny. No tourists or foreigners around.

Best to all,

*this border is a really good idea if u are not interested in going to bishkek, but in timing, maybe u save a little, but no so much. Nevertheless, that car trip, talas-osh, is impressive

[nils.hagen]

I use this border crossing fairly regularly. Taxis to and from Talas are 200 som. They leave from Talas on the north side of the bazaar, look for a bunch of guys yelling "tamozhnia" (таможня). The trip is about 1.5-2 hours, depending on the driver. The Lenin head and sculptures at the Kirovka dam are the highlight on the road. There is a bus that goes to Taraz from the border. Haven't ridden it myself, but I've seen it pull up at the border. I believe it's bus 33 according to this map: http://taraz-bus.kz
In 4-5 crossings I haven't had any trouble, just a couple odd looks as they don't have a lot of experience with foreigners coming to and from Talas. Pretty easy to get a taxi or marshrutka, might have to wait for it to fill up of course. It seems like early in the morning is the best time to get a ride out. There's a couple marshrutkas that make the trip to Bishkek this way to avoid the mountains. They usually have room, you can try to talk to the driver while he waits to go through on the Kyrgyz side, or just wait on some benches a couple hundred meters from the border on the Kazakh side, where the passengers will wait for the marshrutka to make it through the checkpoint.

[RollingTreeHouse]

The border is still accessible by bus from and to Taraz, number 33 as mentioned above.
Somehow not all of the buses actually directly head to the border, sometimes you need to take an old shuttle bus to the village of Grodekovo (Гродеково) about a kilometre north of the border facilities. The village has multiple bus shelters to wait at along the main street but you can alos just flag down the bus driver anywhere on the route.
Currently, the bus fare is KZT 130, payable in cash, transport card or Kazakh QR code payment.

You can also walk or hitch-hike your way there from and to Taraz, just be aware that trucks will use a bypass road towards Taraz airport.

The border controls themselves were mostly painless in both directions, they clearly don't see many foreigners and have to look up what kind of visa regime applies to your passport.
There are more currency exchange facilities on the Kyrgyz side, same for food and shops.